Young people's history of Holland

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Young people's hista,,,j|a^^^^^^

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AMALIA VAN SOLMS (page 238)
IV^/e of Prince Frederick Henry

YOUNG PEOPLE'S

HISTORY OF

HOLLAND

BY

WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

BOSTON AND NEW YORK

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY

atbe Bibetjjibe pcejjS, <!i:amliriSoe

1903

: 1903 BY WILLIAM ELLl
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Published March, 1903

COPYRIGHT 1903 BY WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

To
SISTER MARGARET

FIRST COMRADE IN MY TRAVELS THROUGH
THE NETHERLANDS

PREFACE

Holland had a great part in the making
of the civilization of Europe. By a very un-
usual training amid the elements of nature,
the Dutch were educated to take a noble part
in bringing about the modern world of ideas
and forces. To win first their own land from
the waters, to make it habitable, and then to
gain the dominion of the seas, were notable
triumphs of mind over matter. To lead in
intellectual liberty and freedom in religion, in
the enlargement of the bounds of human
knowledge, and in the union and reconcilia-
tion of the Orient and the Occident, were
surely great things to be done by a country
so small in area and a people so few in num-
bers.

In this outline of Dutch history for young
people, I have laid emphasis upon things visi-
ble and tangible and upon persons and events
rather than upon theories and tendencies. I

vii

PREFACE

have given most space to the picturesque part
of the Netherlands story, to the early move-
ments of nations, the origin of cities, the cru-
sades, the counts, feudalism, the eighty years'
war for freedom, and those modem move-
ments that have shown the varied life, both of
the old republic and of the modem kingdom
which fulfilled the hopes of republican days.

Every American should know the history
of the Netherlands, the fatherland of millions
of Americans and the storehouse of prece-
dents in federal government from which those
who made our nation borrowed most freely.
Nowhere in Europe, except in England, can
one find the origin of so much that is deepest
and best in our national life — including the
highest jewel of civilization, religious liberty
— as in Holland, as John Adams and Benja-
min Franklin long ago confessed.

In a larger work, for adults, laying less stress
upon the picturesque and romantic elements,
I hope to show more fully what the northern
Netherlands have accomplished, what their
mark has been upon the world at large, what
have been their colonial experiences, what

PREFACE

problems they have solved, and, in a word,
what they have contributed in many lines of
achievement to the sum of human civilization.

W. E. G.

Ithaca, N. Y., February, 1903.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Age of the Terpen . . . . i

II. Life in the Days before Letters . 9

III. The Coming of the Romans ... 17

IV. The Franks and the Frisians . . 28
V. Charles the Great 37

VI. Feudalism : the Lord and his Vassals 44

VII. The Crusaders in Asia ... 54

VIII. The First Counts of Holland . . 63

IX. The House of Hainault ... 80

X. The Cods and Hooks . . . -85

XI. Jacqueline of Bavaria ... go

XII. The House of Burgundy . . . 107

XIII. The Charter of the Great Privilege 116

XIV. The Dutch under the House of Aus-

tria 122

XV. The Old World before Gunpowder and

Printing 129

XVI., The Seventeen States under One Head 140

XVII. Orange and the Beggars . . . 147
XVIII. Hedge Preaching and the Storming of

Images 156

XIX. March of the Spaniards — Flight of

the Flemings 164

XX. The Battle of Heiligerlee . . .171
XXI. The Victories of the Water Beggars 179
XXII. Naarden, Haarlem, Alkmaar, and Ley-
den 188

XXIII. England helps Holland .... 206

XXIV. Prince Maurice the Union General . 222

xi

CONTENTS

XXV. The Bloom of the Republic . . . 237
XXVI. The Parliamentary Republic . . 246
XXVII. Dutch Stadholder and British King . 254
XXVIII. The Two Republics — Dutch and Ameri-
can 262

XXIX. The Fall of the Republic . . . 267
XXX. The Batavtan Republic and the King-
dom OF Holland .... 274
XXXI. " The Dutch have taken Holland " . 283
XXXII. Belgium and Holland united and sepa-
rated 288

XXXIII. The Two Queens, Emma and Wilhel-

MiNA 295

XXXIV. The Reign of Queen Wilhelmina . . 299

Appendix 307

Index 317

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Amalia van Solms (page 238). . . . Frontispiece.
From an engraving after the painting by G. v. Honthorst

Escape to the Terpen from the Floods. ... 6

From Arend's " Geschiedenis des Vaderland "

Roman Roads and Architecture in the Nether-
lands 20

From an engraving after the original by F. v. Bleyswyck

Claudius Civilis attacking the Roman Camp . . 24

From an engraving after the original by L. F, du Bourg

The Refusal of Radbod 34

From an engraving after the original by L. F. du Bourg

The Haarlem Crusaders capturing Damietta . 70

From an engraving of the eighteenth century

Battle on the Ice between Frisians and Hol-
landers 82

From an engraving of the eighteenth century

The Widow of Count Albert renouncing her

Claim 92

From Arend's " Geschiedenis des Vaderland"

Jacqueline going forth to shoot at the Popin-
jay 100

From Arend's " Geschiedenis des Vaderland "

A Broken Dike 112

From an engraving of the eighteenth century

Riots in North Holland on Account of Heavy

Taxes 124

From an engraving after the original by T. Folkema
xiii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Preaching outside the Walls of Antwerp . . 158

From an engraving of the eighteenth century

The Women Soldiers of Haarlem 192

From an engraving of the eighteenth century

Naval Battle in the Zuyder Zee, 1573 .... 196

From an engraving after the original by H. Vettewinkel

The Relief of Leyden 202

From an engraving after the original by H. P. Oosterhuis

The Assault on Coevorden 226

From the original painting by Wouvermans

The Great Synod of Dort 234

• From an engraraig by B. Picart

WiLLLAM v., Hereditary Stadholder 258

From an engraving after the original by P. v. Nymegen

Johannes de Graeff 264

From the painting in the New Hampshire House of Re-
presentatives, Concord, N. H.

The French bombarding Willemstad 270

From an engraving after the original by Hausdorff and Bult-
huis

Founders of the Constitution 284

From an engraving after the original by J. W. Pieneman

Entry of the Dutch Army into Brussels . . . 290

From a lithograph after a sketch made at the time

Queen Wilhelmina 296

From a photograph

The Joyous Entry into Amsterdam, 1898 . . . 300
From a photograph

XIV

YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF
HOLLAND

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

CHAPTER I

THE AGE OF THE TERPEN

I AM about to tell you the story of a land that
is very wonderful, because it lies for the most
part below the level of the sea. One would
not suppose that there are people who dwell
beneath the line of low tide, but there are, and
they do not live in a mine or down at a ship's
bottom, either. They have farms and gardens
and cows and horses lower than the surface,
not only of the rivers, but of the ocean. The
tops of many of the houses are on a line with
the decks of steamers passing along, and in
some cases even the chimneys are lower than
the keels of rowboats. Down in the deep
polders, or bottoms of the drained lakes, it is
like living in a washbowl or a cellar, yet it is
bright, green, and sunny there.

The cows graze where the fishes used to

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

feed, and the flowers bloom where seaweed
once grew. To-day as we rush through that
country on the flying express train — for one
can travel the whole length of the land in day-
light — we see very few swamps, marshes, or
waste spaces. Having climbed up to the top
of the great church towers, and looking down,
we see the whole land dotted with cities, towns,
and villages. Hundreds of canals cross the
landscape, and there are many hollows, rich and
low, made of drained land, called " polders."
About five millions of people live and work and
enjoy themselves in this curious country, set be-
tween the sand hills and the sea, between Bel-
gium and Germany. Altogether the Nether-
lands are in area less than one fourth of Iowa.
One would hardly look in such a place for a
country fit for human beings to live in. Yet the
people are very happy in their cosy homes, and
the kingdom is like a garden. How was it
made?

Long, long ago, before a baby cried or a boy
played in this part of the world, the great
rivers of Europe had begun to flow. Down
out of what is now Switzerland, and into and
through Germany, the Rhine forced its way.
The melting ice on the mountains kept the
stream always full and often in flood. From

THE AGE OF THE TERPEN

the south there were two rivers, called the
Maas and the Scheldt, which brought water
and mud from France and Belgium. These
three rivers, after descending from the high
to the low lands, rolled their waters over the
muddy flats, which they had already helped
to make by bringing down sand, gravel, and
different kinds of earth. Every year they
spread more soil over the low countries by
the sea.

Other forces helped to make the Dutch do-
main and get it into shape. The sun shone
hot in summer and dried up the waters, and so,
here and there, above the swamps and fens,
land was seen. By and by something like a
seashore appeared. By the work of the wind
and the waves, great lines and heaps of sand
began to form into banks or dunes. In course
of time these dunes, or hills of sand, have be-
come like great sea walls, to make a coast and
keep out the ocean. They rise from fifty to
three hundred feet in height, and are many
rods wide. The dunes furnish homes for birds
and rabbits. Sometimes they give soil enough
for the raising of potatoes, provided no storm
comes up to blow the farm away or ingulf it
with more sand.

Within this country, birds, beasts, and reptiles
3

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

lived before men. At first there was hardly
anything except swamps within and rivers,
lakes, and lagoons near the seashore. Wher-
ever the land did come nearly up to or just
above the water, there was a thick growth of
reeds, rushes, and grasses, in which millions of
wild fowl lived, feeding upon the fishes and in-
sects that were to be found on the sand and in
the vegetation. Wherever patches of dry land
appeared, formed of sand and sand only, there
was little or no growth of trees, but wherever
the rivers overflowed, leaving a top dressing of
mud, or " sea clay " mixed with the sand, there
trees grew, so that by and by great forests
arose. Ages afterward, when men spoke a
language in which " holt " or " hout " meant
wood, then the holt-land or hout-land, that is,
wood-land, was called Holland.

Many animals roamed in these forests.
There were wild boars, with hard and sharp
tusks, terrible to their enemies. Shaggy, fierce,
and bold, these fellows, swift on the hoof and
strong in the snout, lived on acorns, beechnuts,
and what they could root up out of the ground.
Then there were wolves, swift, strong, with terri-
ble teeth, and able to stand a good deal of hunger
and cold. There were bears that fed on many
kinds of food. Having warm coats, they could

4

THE AGE OF THE TERPEN

Stand the bitterly cold winters in this part of
the world. Finding some hollow tree or hole
in the ground, the brown bear could live all
winter, eating nothing, but sleeping most of
the time.

Looking at the map of the Netherlands to-
day, you will see that Zeeland consists of a net-
work of islands formed chiefly by the Scheldt
river finding its way to the sea. Then from
the point where the Rhine enters Gelderland
you will find another wonderful network of
streams flowing with the Maas and the Waal
westward to the sea, making more islands.
Further north is the Zuyder Zee, with the Ijssel
and the Eem and the Vecht rivers flowing into
it. Beyond North Holland and Friesland
again is a line of half a dozen islands. Where
there are no natural rivers the Dutch dig
canals, for their inland commerce is very great.
Every morning the newspapers announce the
depth of water in each stream, so that the men
may know whether they can sail, row, or pole
their boats where they want to go. When they
meet in the morning their greeting is not " How
do you do ? " but, literally, " How do you
sail ? "

What was the appearance of the country
when the first human beings came into it?

5

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

Who were they ? How did they look ? What
did they wear ? What did they find to eat ?
How did they work, build, fight, and hunt?
Above all, how did they defend themselves
against the water from heaven and earth, the
rain and the waves, the river and the sea
floods ?

We cannot tell exactly, but we know that
the men of that time had to work hard for a
living, and to find food and clothes for their
children. In such a country, with more water
than solid land, their first care was not to get
drowned. Perhaps it took more thought to be
able to guard against the waters than to fight
the wolves and bears. Sometimes the wind
would blow long and hard from the west and
drive the ocean waves over the land. In the
spring time, when in Switzerland the snow
melted and in the French mountains the rain
fell heavily, the waters spread over the coun-
try and the land was lost from sight again.
Then between storm and flood these shaggy
men, half naked or dressed in wolf or bear
skins, had to fight for their lives against the
water as their foe.

How did they do it ? And how were their
wives able to guard their babies, rear their
children, and dwell in safety till the waters

6

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THE AGE OF THE TERPEN

went down, so that they could live once more
in their huts and hunt and fish, or perhaps cul-
tivate the ground ? Yet it is from the cold,
stormy lands of northwestern Europe we get
our dear word " home."

Well, these men first won a shelter bybuild-
ing mounds of tough clay which they raised a
few feet above the level of some piece of hard
ground. Sometimes they drove in stakes of
wood to keep the mound or little hill firm when
the waters rushed in around it. These mounds
were called " terpen." In time, many hundreds
of these terpen dotted the land, and, in the
course of history, when men became more
numerous, stronger, and more civilized, the
terp became the centre of the town. On it
houses were built or the great church rose up
toward the sky. Yet on many of the terpen
no village rose, and these became grassy knolls
that look very pretty on the flat landscape.
Trees have grown on their rich soil, the cattle
have grazed up and down upon them and used
them for shade in summer, and to-day picnic
parties play and dance and eat luncheon there.
The terpen are the relics of the early Dutch
world before history was written.

Let us get acquainted with the men and wo-
men, the boys and girls, who lived upon these

7

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

mounds. Even in our day we can see just how
many kinds of people have dwelt upon or
visited the terpen, from the earliest to the lat-
est times, from the men who saw the now ex-
tinct reindeers, antelopes, and beavers down to
those who have looked upon Queen Wilhel-
mina and her inauguration. In later times
chemists have found that the earth in these
terpen is very rich in black mould, for much of
it is the prized sea clay, which everywhere in
the Netherlands makes the soil that the farmer
values most. Large areas of the Netherlands
consist only of sand, which is nearly worthless ;
but the clays deposited by the sea, river, and
stream, and the drained fen land, can always be
made into good pasture or grain fields. When
the sea clay, out of the old marshes, is put
upon the sand, then rye, oats, and grass grow
finely. This is the reason why the terpen,
once out in the country beyond the towns or
cities, are not now often to be seen. They
have been cut down and sold at so much a cart
load. I have seen men with spades digging
them down and hauling away this " pay dirt "
to enrich their fields.

CHAPTER II

LIFE IN THE DAYS BEFORE LETTERS

What else do we find in the terpen ?

Many things, for each one is Hke a layer
cake or plum pudding, rich in delights to the
men on the outlook for curiosities of past ages.
Under the first two or three feet we find bits
of crockery or porcelain, buttons, horseshoes,
or such things as are modern and have been
known only in recent times. In the next few
feet below we find coins minted in the old
days when many Dutch cities had the right to
stamp money, together with images of the
saints, crosses, and things belonging to the
middle ages. A yard or so further down we
are very apt to fall upon Roman coins and
images of Mars, Venus, and Apollo, with odds
and ends of things used in the time when the
Roman soldier camped in the land. Toward
the bottom we reach relics of the very ancient
days, before the time of iron and steel, such
as bronze swords, daggers, and spearheads.
Either with these, or still lower down, are

9

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

things made of stone and bone, such as we
may pick up among our fields where the red
Indians lived. The earth or the animals fur-
nished material for the needles, combs, scra-
pers, chisels, arrowheads, fishhooks, tools, and
ornaments which the people used who lived
long ago before the time of written history.

These terpen are to be seen especially in
Friesland and Groningen. Perhaps the men
who first made them lived about the same time
as those who raised the dolmens, or heaped
stones, in Drenthe, called Hunnebeden, or
"giants' graves." There are fifty or sixty of
these dolmens left yet, and we see them best at
Rolde. Each one consists of a dozen stones,
more or less, which are laid around to form a
kind of wall, or huge box, and on top of these
are placed two or three of the larger boulders,
each as big as a cart. How did these great
rocks get where they are ?

Well, ages ago, when most of Holland was
under the water of the ocean, great glaciers,
from which icebergs are made, extended all the
way down from Norway to France and the
Netherlands. They brought with them, as ice-
bergs do, large masses of rock, besides millions
of pebbles and many cubic miles of gravel.
In later ages they floated around and above

LIFE IN THE DAYS BEFORE LETTERS

the land that was to be, and sometimes they
grounded. When the ice melted, this stony
material from Sweden and Norway was left on
Dutch soil. Thus, whether by iceberg or by
glacier or both, Drenthe was covered with
these boulders, and other parts of the country
were filled with the " drift," or small stones and
gravel.

This time of the world's history has been
named Ragnarok, or " The Twilight of the
Gods." In the mythology or fairy tales of the
Norsemen, we are told about Woden, who was
a great hero living during the age of the gla-
ciers, and of Thor, who, with his mighty ham-
mer, helped to shape the world.

No doubt the men who lived in Drenthe
and raised these tombs, or altars, or whatever
they were, worked very hard with the lever and
the roller, prying and turning over these huge
stones. It must have cost great labor to get
them into position. We can imagine the boys
and girls of this wild age looking on and being
interested, while the women cooked the food
and worked equally hard to take care of the
babies and to make the husbands and fathers
comfortable.

We can only guess how people lived in
those far-away times by studying tribes of

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

savages whose ways of life are somewhat like
those of the terpen folks. This we know, how-
ever, that they had to toil hard to live. With
stone knives they skinned the animals killed
with spear or arrow, and cut the flesh into
pieces for boiling or roasting. Their axes
were made of chipped or sharpened flints
tied to wooden handles, and with these they
cracked open the marrow bones.

To split wood, make boats, and provide fuel
for warmth with such tools meant a good deal
of labor. Yet even in those days the people
played as well as worked. We can see in the
museums, from what has been found in the
terpen, that boys and girls, men and women,
were as fond of adorning themselves then as
we are now. They bound up their hair, first
with withes or cords, and then with bands of
bronze. We can handle their hairpins, hair-
rings, bracelets, finger rings, necklaces, dia-
dems, and various ornaments and implements
made to hold clothing together. The girls
and women in those days, as in ours, liked to
look pretty. The men took great pains and
care with their weapons to make them sharp
and powerful.

With the clay, which they could easily dig
up all around them, they moulded urns, jars,

LIFE IN THE DAYS BEFORE LETTERS

plates, cups, and many kinds of cooking and
drinking vessels. By baking the clay in the
fire, they made it hard, so that they were able
to keep not only food but water and liquids.
To grind their grain they made hand-mills
out of stones. In summer the men hunted
and fished, enjoying the sweet breath of the
woods and meadows. In winter they tied on
their feet skates made of bone and glided over
the smooth ice. I have no doubt that though
we could not, yet they did enjoy their kind of
life.

In religion these people worshiped gods
who were a good deal like themselves, yet per-
haps they were as truly religious, according to
their light, as we are. They had no temples
or sacred buildings, but certain trees were holy,
and no one must tread in those parts of the
forest that were counted sacred, without being
clean in body and pure in thought. The trees
in the groves of the gods were believed to have
powers of healing. Many a mother brought
her sick baby before the sacred fir or the vine-
covered oak, praying to the god Woden to
heal the child. Often men in disease were
carried a long distance by their friends and
laid before the holy trees, hoping for health
again. Sometimes their religion took what

13

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

seems to us a very cruel form. They feared
the wrath of the gods, who, they thought, de-
lighted in war and death. Very tall figures,
made in human shape of plaited osiers or wil-
low branches, were filled with prisoners taken
in battle, or with people who were believed to
have wrought witchcraft, or who were supposed
to have made the gods angry. Then this great
wooden framework, full of human beings, was
set on fire and all within were burned to ashes.
This was supposed to please the gods, who
loved blood and slaughter, even as the warriors
themselves did. When a chief or great man
died, they laid his body upon a very high pile
of wood and ranged around him his servants,
who were then put to death. They led up his
horse and his dog, and these also they killed
with their stout knives. Then they placed all
the dead bodies on the heap, setting the whole
on fire. All this they did in the hope that the
master would not be lonely, but have company
in the spirit world. Often the wife died thus
with her husband.

Yet there were bright days too, for these
people were much like ourselves. They liked to
have their fun and frolic. They showed their
gladness when winter had gone and summer
had come. They marked the passing of time

LIFE IN THE DAYS BEFORE LETTERS

when the spring days began to lengthen and
the autumn nights grew shorter, and again
when the hours between sunrise and sunset
were fewer and there was less time fpr outdoor
life. The long nights made them gather
round the fireplace and tell wonderful stories
of great heroes and gods, and of men and wo-
men who had set shining examples of duty or
prowess. They celebrated what we call the
sun's solstices, the winter one, which comes on
December 2 2d, near our Christmas, and the
summer one, which comes on June 21st, and
also the equinoxes of the spring and autumn.

Perhaps one of the greatest days of all the
year was the May festival, when the women
and children put flowers on their heads,
wreathed them over their shoulders and around
their waists, and made long garlands of green-
ery decked with blossoms. A great tree was
cut down, and drawn out from the forest into
the open. Its branches were chopped off and
it was set up as the May pole, around which
the people danced and sang, while one pretty
maiden was made the queen. To her they all
paid honors.

Thus, long, long before such things as clocks
or almanacs were known, or there was any
exact method of keeping time or marking his-

15

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

tory, the centuries slipped away, while the land
was forming into its present shape, or rather
toward it. Further south, below what is now
the Zuyder Zee, stretched great wastes of sand
called the Veluwe, or Vile land, while in the
great island next south to it was the Betuwe,
or the Better Land or meadow. Still further
south and to the southwest, between hill and
sea, was more of the low land which now forms
Belgium.

How many people there were in all these
lowlands before Christ was born we cannot
tell. Living amid their own swamps, occupied
as they were in fishing and in hunting, and
often at war, they hardly knew, except by
vague and strange reports, of the bright, sunny
lands in the south, where dwelt people who
had cities, streets, canals and aqueducts,
houses of brick and marble, painting, sculp-
ture, and books. About these things the peo-
ple in the north of Europe knew and cared no
more than the savage Indians of America used
to care for farms, shops, or stores. They were
in love with their wild life as fishermen and
hunters and worshipers of Woden. To them
these marshy lowlands, under cloudy skies and
often hidden in fog, made home.

i6

CHAPTER III

THE COMING OF THE ROMANS

It was wonderful and exciting news when
in the year 54 b. c. swift runners brought word
that the south men, the Romans, were march-
ing by the thousands toward the Rhine. From
their lookouts in the treetops, these stalwart
men of the north saw the flashing brass hel-
mets of the Roman soldiers. At first they
were afraid of them. They saw that these
warriors from sunny lands wore tunics, or short
coats, with greaves on their lower limbs, but not
leggings or trousers, like the men of colder
climes. At night they wrapped themselves in
cloaks. They carried short, iron swords, and
shields made strong with hide and metal. On
their bodies they had armor, their shoulders
being especially well guarded with bands and
plates of bronze.

These southern men were not, as a rule, so
tall as those in the north. Indeed, many of
them seemed to the Germans to be mere boys.
So the tribesmen plucked up courage, gathered

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

themselves together, and went out with their
spears and swords, expecting to drive the Ro-
mans away and kill them all, but they had
made a great mistake. The Romans were
not only brave, but they were cool and obeyed
orders. They stood together close in ranks
and could not be driven back, even when the
heavier tribesmen rushed at them in great
crowds.

It was the Roman discipline that conquered.
These " boys " kept their ground, first receiv-
ing the blows of the barbarians upon their
shields, and then thrusting the enemy through
with their short swords. There was no steel
in those days, and if a soldier bent his sword,
he put it under his foot and straightened it
out again. In the end, Caesar, who had eight
legions, or about fifty thousand men, conquered
the Netherlands south of the Rhine. Other
generals followed Caesar, and soon the golden
eagles and banner of Rome were seen all over
the land. The Batavians, or the men who lived
on the island of Betuwe — famous for its pas-
tures — and the regions around, were such good
fighters on horseback that they were invited,
13 B. c, to enter the Roman army. This they
did, becoming the life or body guard of the
Roman emperor. They served as Batavian

THE COMING OF THE ROMANS

cavalry in many campaigns, even in far-off
southern Europe and in Greece, once deciding
a great battle by their valor.

The history of the Netherlands becomes
brighter after the Romans entered the country,
for these southerners understood vi^riting, and
letters bring light. Caesar has told his story
in Latin, which, though it seems to the school-
girls and schoolboys beginning it hard to
translate, is very clear. Yet Csesar wrote only
about the earliest wars. We wish some other
Romans, during the following centuries, had
written equally well about later events and
their own lives and work ; for very many people
came up from Italy and the southern countries,
and thousands of them lived in the Nether-
lands during five hundred years. They built
roads, canals, and forts, laid out farms, and
reared houses and temples. They made a very
large walled camp on the seashore near Ley-
den, which they called the House towards Brit-
ain. One general, named Drusus, 1 1 b. c,
had a long canal cut, which joined the waters
of the Rhine and the Ijssel rivers, so that they
flowed to Lake Flevo, where is now the Zuyder
Zee, and out to the German Ocean through the
Vlie. After that, a Roman galley could be
rowed from inland Germany to the British

19

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

Isles, or enter from the North Sea into the
heart of Europe.

One of the canals, dug near Le)'den and
called the Vliet, is probably the same one down
which, many centuries later, the Pilgrim Fa-
thers began their journey to America.

We know fairly well what cities there were
in the times of the empire and where the gar-
risons were placed. While the Romans had
their farms, the natives kept their marks,
or divisions of land, and thus the one set of
men learned a great deal from the other. A
mark was a tract of land owned by a tribe or
family in common. All the people could cut
wood from the forest for their fires or to make
houses or tools, and all were allowed to keep
their pigs in the woods, or to let their cows
graze upon the meadows, for the land of the
community was free to all. On the other hand,
the Romans measured and divided their land
into farms, each owned by one person. In
later ages some of the Roman laws and cus-
toms were adopted by these Germanic tribes
that became Dutch and English, so that not a
few Latin words, now spelled " farm," " canal,"
" street," " port," or " common," have remained
in our language. Even the "common," or
" green," which we see in our towns and vil-

ROJIAN ROADS AND A

lETURE IN THE NETHERLANDS

THE COMING OF THE ROMANS

lages, is a relic of these old days. In time the
Romans became Christians, and thus, through
them, one of the greatest blessings brought
into this northern land was the religion of
Jesus, which softened manners and kindled in
men's hearts the greatest of all hopes.

Let us look at some of the Roman cities in
the far north. Beginning at the south, there
was Noviomagum, which is now called Ny-
megen. We must remember that these. Latin
names, sooner or later, became changed into
Dutch, and that the names we now see on the
map have grown out of the Latin ; as, for ex-
ample, Vianen, from Fanum Dianae, or Diana's
Shrine. In some cases the Latin name, like
Lugdunum, now perhaps the city of Leyden,
was only the southern man's way of pronoun-
cing Lugdun, the name already there, which
has in it " lug," now our word " look." Among
the islands of Zeeland, Roman sailors and mer-
chants lived and had their altars and temples,
but we do not know the exact place of any
ancient town or city there. " Utrecht " is only
the late form changed from words meaning the
Upper or Old Ford, near a settlement, where
the water was so low as to be easily crossed.
Further on the west was the great camp on
the seashore, called the House toward Britain,

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

which was the place whence the Roman ships
could sail over to the British islands to supply
the garrisons there, and to which galleys could
row or sail from the direction of sunset. A
little south was a colony at the place now
called Voorburg. Further up in the north
was the Flevo castle, standing about where
Hoorn now is. Just north of Lake Flevo,
which has since become the Zuyder Zee, was
a holy forest, far-stretching and gloomy, in
which were many sacred trees. To the north-
east was Groningen. The channels of most of
the Dutch rivers were then as they are now.

The natives had not only their witches and
wizards, but also their fortune-tellers and those
whom they called weird women, who foretold
that which would come to pass. One of them,
living near the spot where the river Lippe
flowed into the Rhine, was the virgin Velleda.
She dwelt alone in the forest, far above the
ground, in a tower or platform built in the
trees. Many people believed that she could
not only see into the future, but could assure
success to those whom she favored. This wo-
man was a great friend of a native noble named
Claudius. His parents had not so called him
when a boy, but on becoming a soldier in the
Roman army, he took the name of Claudius

22

THE COMING OF THE ROMANS

Civilis, which shows that he was a Roman
citizen. He served twenty-five years in the
legions and under the golden eagles, fighting
for the empire wherever he was sent. He
lived a long time in Italy, in the city on the
Tiber, but he never lost his love for his people
or his country in the north.

When Claudius and his brother were charged
with crime, they were sent prisoners to Rome.
His brother was put to death, but he escaped.
He then determined to free his country also.
Coming home, he told Velleda, the fortune-
teller, his ambition. She promised that if he
would lead his countrymen, he could drive away
the Romans and become emperor. When
she told others that Claudius was their cham-
pion, the tribes rallied round him. Knowing
how to build battering rams and engines to
throw stones and darts, he attacked, a. d. 70,
his enemy's camps. Yet although he won
some victories, he was not very successful.
The Romans beat back his forces or persuaded
them to desert their leader. Crafty as they
were, they even sent to Velleda and won her
over to their cause. She now began to fore-
tell the ruin of Civilis and the triumph of his
enemies.

We do not know what became of Claudius
23

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

Civilis, but after him the natives gathered to-
gether and chose another leader, whose name
was Brinio. Theirs was a rough kind of an
election. Had we been there we should have
seen thousands of warriors of various tribes
met together, with their spears and swords and
shields. Stalwart fellows, with long mustaches
and streaming hair, or with their locks bound
up in a knot, dressed in leather or skins with
the fur on, bearing shields of hide or wicker-
work, held a council and made many speeches.
Then after it had been pretty well agreed who
should be chief, a half dozen or more strong
warriors would lead out the elected man. Pla-
cing him upon their big shields, they hoisted
him up in the air, resting the burden on their
shoillders. Standing on this platform of hu-
man muscle, holding his sword in one hand
and gesturing with the other, Brinio addressed
his warriors in a rousing speech. He had on
a tunic, held together by a belt, in which a
knife was thrust. Over his shoulders hung a
skin mantle, a hide was wrapped around his
legs, and on his feet were sandals. The great
crowd of war-men set up a shout, hailed him as
their chief, and rattled the fiat of their swords
and spears against their shields. Then he led
them forth to battle.

24

f - -?> a^r - >^

o

a:

H

o
z

<

Q
o

THE COMING OF THE ROMANS

These events took place in the years 69 and
70, when in the far east another Roman army
under Titus was besieging Jerusalem.

But in A. D. 70 it was not yet for either a
Claudius or a Brinio to make headway against
the Romans. The southern rulers still held
their camps, garrisons, and cities, marched up
and down the roads, and collected the taxes in
the northern lowlands. There were others
besides soldiers among these people from the
sunny south, for the women had come to make
homes as well as camps. The boys and girls
born in the settlements amid this watery land
were sent to Italy for their education. To-
day, as the spade and plough disturb the soil,
mirrors, bracelets, images, jewelry, sculpture,
children's toys, and many a pretty thing brought
from the land on the Mediterranean are turned
up. Dutch writers tell wonderful stories of the
Roman world passed away.

By and by, in the latter part of the third
century, when tribes of men from the north
and east broke into the land and captured the
Roman camps and cities, the cohorts were
sent to the frontier, and they drove back these
new Germans from over the border. On the
eastern frontier, then as now, most of the land
was swampy or sandy, but a strip of hard soil

25

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

crossed it, making a gateway into the Low
Country. Here the Romans built a camp and
formed a garrison, at what is now called Coe-
vorden, as well as at Groningen. Thus the
invaders were held back, for the great empire
of Rome was still strong and the legions were
kept in splendid discipline.

But gradually most of the soldiers found in
the Roman army were men of northern birth.
They did not enjoy fighting for the distant
emperor in Italy. They favored their own
countrymen more and more. At any rate,
about the middle of the fifth century, the Ger-
manic tribes all united together, and resolved
to drive the Romans southward, and to occupy
the whole land for themselves. Encouraged
by their weird women, and led by brave and
stalwart leaders, they streamed over the land.
Though sometimes beaten back, they captured,
one after the other, the Roman camps and
castles, and were finally successful In a few
years most of the marble images and altars
were overthrown, and the Roman temples de-
faced and ruined. The jewels, ornaments, toys,
and pretty things brought from Italy became
playthings for the barbarian children. The
mosaic floors sank under the earth. The very
places where there were Roman houses and

26

THE COMING OF THE ROMANS

gardens were overgrown with bushes and for-
gotten. Trees sprang up, forests covered the
ploughed land, and once more much of the
country was as wild as nature could make it.
The arts of brickmaking and stonebuilding
were forgotten, and the story of the Romans
became myth and fairy tale.

By the sixth century, Germans, Franks, Sax-
ons, and Angles had occupied the whole land,
and new tribes, along with the Frisians, filled
the country. There was pagan darkness again,
as of old. It is now time for us to look again
towards the Mediterranean, to see what next
the bright sunny south, rich in glorious cities
and Christian temples, will send into this land
of forest, fen, and marsh. Now that in these
warmer south countries, so much nearer Pales-
tine, the church had, for the pnost part, taken
the place of the pagan temple, we should ex-
pect the rays of Christianity to shine brightly
in the far north also. Even to this day the
Latin motto of Utrecht University means,
" Sun of (Divine) Justice shine on us," while
that of her child in the new world, Rutgers
College, at New Brunswick, in New Jersey,
means, " Sun of (Divine) Justice shine also on
the West."

27

CHAPTER IV

THE FRANKS AND THE FRISIANS

Like the great floods from river and sea that
from time to time roll over the Netherlands,
hiding for a while the face of the country be-
neath the waters, while leaving new deposits
of soil, so was the great overstreaming of the
nations from the north and east during the
fifth and sixth centuries, that filled the land
with new people. The men and boys marched
on foot, the women and little folk traveled in
wagons. When they reached the seashore,
thousands of them sailed on westward over the
North Sea and settled in England.

When we look again at the Low Countries,
we find them occupied chiefly by two great
peoples, called the Frisians on the north and
the Franks on the south. Between these two
peoples there was often war, but in time of
peace much trade and barter. Their lan-
guages were not very different, so that they
could talk easily with each other. The Fri-
sians were really a mixture of many people.

28

THE FRANKS AND THE FRISIANS

Their language was very much like that of
the tribes that had crossed the North Sea into
England, and have since been called " the
Anglo-Saxons." We can see now how this
general likeness of the speech of the Teutonic
tribes would help to spread the religion of
Jesus when missionaries came into the land.
The Netherlanders were pagans, and if they
were to be converted to Christianity, the work
must be done, as it is always done when a
nation changes or improves its religion, by
missionaries.

Most of the old Celtic tribes that had lived
in the Low Countries were driven further south
below the Rhine, which was now the general
boundary, no longer between Romans and
Germans, but between the new nations. The
neighbors of the new Netherlanders were called
Franks, or Spear-men, as the Saxons were
Knife-men. These Prankish tribes were de-
scendants of the same people who had lived in
the regions along the river Rhine in Cesar's
day, and with whom the Romans had come into
contact. The Franks entered the Netherlands
between the years 300 and 361 a. d. When in
the fifth century they began to move southward,
they made a confederacy and called them-
selves Franks, which then meant freemen.

29

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

There were two divisions of them. One was
the Salic, or Salian, group of tribes, living
around the lower or western Rhine and the
Maas and the Scheldt rivers. These took
their name from the river Ijssel, which was
then called Sala.

The other group of Franks came from the
middle or eastern part of the river Rhine, in
and about the region of which the city of Co-
logne is the centre. These were called the
Riparian, or River, Franks, because of their
riparian situation ; for the word means by the
side of, or belonging to, the banks of a river.
" Rijp " is the ending of many Dutch names of
places that once stood on a river, like Dronrijp,
for example, in Friesland. Indeed, in those
times, the savage Netherlanders were like our
North American Indians, fond of living near
rivers or streams, in which they could catch
fish for food and beavers for clothing. Other
animals, besides the human sort, made their
haunts near the water, finding it a good place
for daily food.

The Franks moved into what was then called
Gaul, and gave it the name of France. They
raised a flag with the colors red, white, and
blue in it; and overthrowing the imperial
power and driving out the Roman soldiers,

30

THE FRANKS AND THE FRISIANS

they set up a kingdom of their own. They
extended their conquests by going up and
back into their old home-land, pushing the
Frisians northward. Yet active as they were
in the arts of war, the Christian missionaries
from Rome and Ireland were equally busy in
the arts of peace. During the long years of
both peace and war, the Franks were taught
the religion of Jesus, until it became their
own.

This was the wonderful thing, that Ireland
was then an island of saints and full of Chris-
tian light. About the year 388, a Latin gen-
tleman's son, named Succat (brave in battle),
was carried captive to Ireland and there made
a slave. When he gained his freedom, he
went over to Gaul to be educated. Becom-
ing a Christian pastor, he resolved to return
to Ireland, and did so in a. d. 432. As a mis-
sionary he taught the good news of God's love,
winning great success, as all missionaries do
who have strength, perseverance, wisdom, and
gentleness, and who not only preach, but live
the pure gospel of Christ. Ireland became a
Christian country, and her people sent out mis-
sionaries to Scotland, France, and the Nether-
lands.

When the Franks first raised the flag of war
31

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

against the Romans, they chose three colors,
red, white, and blue. The three stripes were
placed vertically, that is, up and down. This
first flag of freedom has ever since been con-
spicuous. To-day, after the white lilies of the
Bourbons, it is the flag of the republic of
France. The same colors are those of the
Netherlands and of the United States, as well
as of other countries under their influence.

One of the great kings of the Franks, the
first, A. D. 500, was Clovis. Another was Dago-
bert, who became sole ruler of the Frankish
empire. He collected the laws and framed
them into a code. About the beginning of
the seventh century, the Franks gradually
secured victory over the Frisians. Then, at
Utrecht, in a. d. 628, Dagobert, having author-
ity over the whole country, gave protection
to the missionaries when they wished to go up
further north and preach the gospel. The sav-
age Frisians there* were slow to give up their
gods, sacred trees, and old traditions.

Looking back to the seventh century, we
can see a little wooden church rising up in
Utrecht, and hear prayers to God in Christ ;
but the pagan Frisians turn jealous eyes on
this building, and their priests are sullen and
hostile. By and by they burn down the church,

32

THE FRANKS AND THE FRISIANS

but it is soon rebuilt. The missionaries go
forth and preach. With their axes they cut
down the trees sacred to Woden and Thor,
and build churches amid the groves.

So Christianity moves, now forward, now
backward, yet ever onward. About a. d. 679,
from near York in England, a city which, hav-
ing been first Briton and then Roman, was at
this time Anglo-Saxon, Wilfried the mission-
ary reached the Netherlands. On the coast
of England he got on board one of the little
wooden ships of the period, to sail down into
France, expecting then to travel across the
country. He was going to Rome to see the
Pope.

The North Sea is often very stormy, and
Wilfried's ship was blown over to the coast of
Friesland. Adgillus, the king of the Frisians,
having many enemies among the Franks,
wanted to be friendly with Wilfried. This
was because Nebroin, who was the great court-
master of the king of the Franks, was a friend
of Wilfried. So Adgillus gave Wilfried per-
mission to preach the gospel. He had no
trouble in making himself understood by these
people, strangers though they were. In those
days the language which both the people in
the British Islands and those in the Nether-

33

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

lands spoke was about the same. The Anglo-
Saxons and the Frisians belonged to the one
race, and the English language was not yet
separated from the German. His preaching
was welcomed, and many thousand Frisians
were baptized.

On his return to England in 680, Wilfried
secured permission to have other missionaries
cross the North Sea to Friesland. One of the
most celebrated of the number was Willibrord,
who had been a pupil of Wilfried in earlier
days. He is now spoken of as " the apostle of
the Frisians." He studied twelve years in Ire-
land, and in 690 he went over to the Nether-
lands, landing near Utrecht. Here he was
joined by a band of eleven other English mis-
sionaries. The chief ruler, who was a Frank,
named Pepin the Big, welcomed him and
treated him well. He also had the patronage
of King Charles Martel, who had beaten the
Saracens in battle. With his band of preach-
ers and teachers, Willibrord went all through
the northern Netherlands. By the year 700,
many thousands of the Frisians had become
Christians, putting away their old ideas and
customs. Not a few of the converted pagan
priests became pastors of villages of Christian

34

THE FRANKS AND THE FRISIANS

people. The images of the gods, the holy
marks on the trees, the rude stone altars of
sacrifice passed away. In the old sacred places
rose houses of worship, in which the heavenly
Father alone was adored.

But from time to time there would be a re-
action. It is not easy for men to change their
religion, and conversion was often brought
about by force. The Frisian king, Radbod,
had been compelled to obey the Frankish rule
and come into the Christian Church, a. d. 718,
to be baptized. The ancient fonts, still to be
seen in the museums, were as large as tubs.
The ca!ndidate for baptism stepped into the
vessel, and could be not only sprinkled but
dipped. When the royal Radbod had put one
leg into the font, he stopped and asked Wol-
fram the missionary whether through baptism
he could enter heaven.

" Certainly," answered the bishop.

" But," replied Radbod, " how is it with my
father, and my grandfather, and all my ances-
tors who have not been baptized ? Are they
not in heaven .? "

" No," answered Wolfram the pastor, " they
are in hell. Only the baptized Christians go
to heaven."

35

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

" Then I '11 think it over before I am bap-
tized. I had rather be with my own kindred
in hell than with you and yours in heaven."
Thereupon he drew out his foot and went
away.

36

CHAPTER V

CHARLES THE GREAT

Religion and politics were mixed together in
those early days, and some of the bishops were
rather in a hurry about forcing the Frisians
to accept their religion from Rome. Rad-
bod's son, Poppo, who succeeded his father as
nominal king, refused to be a Christian. He
rebelled against the Prankish dominion, and
called out his tribesmen to battle. He was
beaten, and with thousands of his men, per-
ished on the bloody field of war, a. d. 750.
After this, Christianity was enforced as the
law of the land.

Soon another Anglo-Saxon missionary from
England, Winfried, whose Roman or clerical
name was Boniface, began preaching and teach-
ing in Frisia. He worked so hard among the
Germanic tribes, both east and west, that he
has been called " the apostle of Germany."
Ever anxious to turn the people from pagan-
ism, he did not hesitate to compel them by
force, not only to believe the gospel, but to be

37

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

Christians of the Roman sort. Indeed, most
of the British missionaries were rough and se-
vere, and not at all like the wise and gentle
Patrick of Ireland. So it came to pass that
Boniface lost his life.

In the year 755, he went up into the region
in which lies the pretty little city of Dokkum.
On Easter Sunday, after having taught and
baptized his converts, who were dressed in
white, he gave them the communion. In the
midst of the feast, the pagan Frisians, with
patriotic motives, and also in the name of
their gods, slew him and fifty other Christians.
Boniface was made a saint in the Roman cal-
endar. Christianity was gradually established,
yet only after many wars ; for the natives often
rose in rebellion against their Prankish mas-
ters and tried to be free again, and, perhaps
also, to be pagans, as their priests wanted them
. to be.

When the Saxons and Frisians joined to-
gether to fight against Charlemagne, or Charles
the Great, Wittekind was their leader, and won
a great victory over the Franks. Then Charle-
magne took a cruel revenge in the year 782,
by putting 4500 Saxons to the sword. This
made all the Saxon tribes rise up again under
Wittekind ; but they were beaten, and after

38

CHARLES THE GREAT

a while, Wittekind and the other chiefs came,
in 785, to France, and received baptism as
Christians. Now for the first time since the
Roman empire fell, all the Netherlands were
united under one ruler. Henceforth Chris-
tianity was the faith of all the people in the
Low Countries.

Charles the Great had reared a new empire
which he hoped would be like that of Rome.
He restored order, established courts, and built
schools. He was wise in the government of
his subjects, who belonged to many nations.
When on Christmas Day, a. d. 800, he was in
Rome, and was worshiping in the cathedral,
Pope Leo IH. put upon his head the iron
crown of imperial dominion. The forehead
band on the inside was said to have been made
of a nail from the true cross on which Jesus
was crucified. Thus with the blessing of the
Pontiff he ruled his great empire.

Knowing how fiercely patriotic the Frisians
were, and that they loved to call themselves
" free Frisians," Charles gave them great free-
dom, and let them have their own laws, while '
they agreed to obey the chief officers which he
appointed over them. There were other ways
in which liberty was granted the Frisians, as
seen in their famous book of laws called " The

39

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

Asega Book." This shows both their ancient
customs and the Prankish additions, and is a
very interesting work. Indeed, it is from the
Frisians that we get our word " book," and
many other terms used in ordinary conver-
sation.

Charles the Great was one of the mightiest
men in European history. He brought nearly
the whole of central Europe under govern-
ment, and led the wild and warlike peoples
into the ways of civilization. Whole tribes had
been accustomed to move about in wagons,
like gypsies, or to wander on foot, like tramps,
and thus to keep up their savagery. Charles
induced the rovers to settle down as farmers,
and to begin work in tilling the soil, to love
peace, and to engage in trade and commerce.
He gathered learned men about his court, set
up schools in different parts of the empire,
and fixed the church neighborhoods. He
may be called the great civilizer of barbarian
Europe. Born a. d. 742, he died a. d. 814.

After a great man dies, many stories gather
about his name. To most people in the middle
ages, Charlemagne seemed to be more like an
ogre, a giant, or a good fairy, than a real man.
He and his captains became the heroes of
many legends and romances. In the Nether-

40

CHARLES THE GREAT

lands his favorite dwelling-place was at Ny-
megen, on the Waal river, whence he could
look up and down the beautiful valley. There
he spent his winters in making laws and ruling
his great empire, or in preparing for those
campaigns which he carried on in summer.
To-day it is delightful to stroll in the Walkof,
or pretty park in this fine old Dutch city, and
call up the wonderful things now told of him
in story, painted in picture, or sung in opera,
or to sit among the ruins of the chapel in
which he and his people once worshiped a
thousand years ago. When the curfew bell
rings in Nymegen, it is called " Kaiser Karel's
bell." Among Dutch people, Charlemagne is
known as Karel de Groot, or Charles the Great.
But there is a Japanese proverb which says,
" The great general has no son ; " that is, he
has no heir who inherits his brain and power
and can carry on his work. Sometime after
the great Charles had died, his grandsons met
at Verdun in 843 and divided their inheritance;
for the Prankish empire could not last, as did
that of the Romans, for twelve hundred years.
The many elements then in Europe were not
well mixed together. There was no common
language and no real patriotism. The peoples
living in what is now France, Germany, and

41

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

Italy wished to be by themselves. Further-
more, the old pagan civilization had to pass
away entirely before the new Christian civiliza-
tion could be fully formed.

From the time of the great treaty made
at Verdun in the year 843, between Charle-
magne's three grandsons, the empire was di-
vided up into as many kingdoms. From that
time forth the peoples that had been develop-
ing themselves during the previous three and
a half centuries had the opportunity to become
new and separate nations. They began to be,
what for a thousand years they have been,
Italians, French, and Germans.

The Netherlanders in the time of Charle-
magne and his first successors lived under a
very different kind of political life from that to
which their old Germanic ancestors had been
accustomed. In the ancient days, the tribes-
men came together first in their villages, and
each tribe elected its own chief. Then, in a
great assembly, they chose the general of all
the tribes. But when conquered by the Ro-
mans, this method of election passed away, for
the people were governed by officers sent out
from Rome. When the Franks set up their
empire again, they followed the same Roman

policy. The people had no elections, but

42

CHARLES THE GREAT

simply submitted to the governors who were
sent by the Prankish king to command the
army, to rule the country and districts, and to
hold the courts, According to Charlemagne's
directions, these officers, who were called
"dukes," " earls," " counts," " margraves," or by
other titles, respected the local customs, and
this made the people feel that they were still
enjoying some liberty. Rebellion was rare,
and in the Netherlands good order was the
rule.

These old names, " duke," " earl," " count,"
" baron," remain in our language, but are no
longer signs of ownership of land. Whether
in China, Japan, France, or England, the titles
last after the reality of power has passed away.
Let us now glance at that condition of society
called feudalism. The one great difference
between the United States of America and
European or Asiatic countries is that in Amer-
ica there never was any feudalisrn save a rude
sort among the Iroquois Indians.

43

CHAPTER VI

FEUDALISM : THE LORD AND HIS VASSALS

The people had never lost their local liberty,
and were governed by edicts sent out from a
great emperor whom very few of them ever
saw, and whose language was different from
their own. Gradually it came to pass that
their own " count," or local ruler, whom they
saw often, became more important in their eyes
than the emperor who was far away. It was
the habit of the count to hold an assembly of
his vassals several times a year, to discuss
matters of law and custom. Then every man
appeared in his presence. When war broke
out, all the strong men got ready for the cam-
paign. The count's under-officers went to
meet him, to get their orders from him. Then
coming back, each called out his own company
of vassals, or soldiers. Every man able to bear
arms was expected to appear ready for war.
He must have a shield, a spear, and a cuirass,
or breast-plate, a bow, and a quiver with twelve
arrows in it.

44

FEUDALISM

Step by step there began a new system of
society, which is called feudalism. All over
the world, except among savages, this system
has at some time been the rule. Men coming
up into civilized life pass through feudalism as
a stage of progress, just as boyhood is a stage
between babyhood and manhood. In savage
life there is only one class of people. In our
day and country, there are many classes, —
farmers, mechanics, merchants, sailors, soldiers,
lawyers, doctors, ministers, etc., but in feu-
dalism there are only two classes of society,
those who own land and those who do not.
The landowners or landlords are, of course,
very few, but the lacklands, or landless ones,
are many. The two chief landowners are
the baron and the bishop. The baron builds
a great castle, with thick walls of brick or
stone, which has a defensive belt of armor in
the shape of water in a moat. Then, pulling
up the drawbridge, he is safe from the rest
of the world ; for he has food and drink within,
and brave men on the walls and turrets to de-
fend him and his company. The miserable
poor people, afraid to live in villages or in the
country, when armed men, who are usually rob-
bers, are moving about, gather round the base
of the castle built on the rock, or behind the

45

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

moated grange. There they huddle together
in hovels made of timber and wattle-work,
smeared with mud, hardly daring to call their
lives their own. In time of danger and during
the winter they live a wretched, and in time of
war a horrible, life. In summer they are only
too glad to have a little holiday, or to enjoy an
entertainment in looking at a procession of
knights or priests, or the lords and ladies of
the castle riding or hawking, in watching a
tournament or gathering for sport, and occa-
sionally sharing a "largess," or gift of extra
food, game from the hunt, or spoil of war.
Their daughters unprotected, and their sons
made servants, they live more like serfs than
freemen.

Thus over most of Europe during the
period of feudalism, from the ninth to the six-
teenth century, we see only a few large cities
and towns, with many villages gathered around
castles, cathedrals, and churches. There is
very little dwelling in the country, either by
individuals or in hamlets, as in the old days
of primitive freedom. Single farmhouses are
almost unknown.

The other great landlord, or landholder,
the bishop, dwelt near the big brick or stone
church, usually in a palace. He had control

46

FEUDALISM

also of the monasteries and nunneries, be-
sides enjoying or directing the revenues of the
country. The people, who were very ignorant,
imagined that their superiors in the Church
could open the gates of heaven to them when
they died. Hardly thinking about salvation
in this life, and hoping only to be saved in
heaven after death, they usually gave while
they lived all the money which priest and
bishop demanded. On his death-bed, instead of
leaving his property to his wife and children,
the father was very apt to make his will just as
the monk or priest told him to do. In the long
course of centuries, enormous tracts of land
came into possession of the Church. Matters
were made worse by so many men becoming
priests or monks, and thus saving themselves
from hard work. In some of the towns, a ma-
jority of the people, male and female, belonged
to the religious orders, which fattened upon
the poverty of the working-people.

There was another side to feudalism, for it
had a bright as well as a dark side. The might
of the knight often helped the weak and re-
dressed the wrong of the oppressed. In the
castle were developed lovely manners and win-
ning politeness. Woman was honored. The
baron's wife became a lady, and his daughters

47

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

were treated with gentleness. Thus grew
up the wonderful and beautiful institution of
chivalry.

Nor were all the monks idle fellows. Many
of them were teachers and makers of books.
They kept alive what little learning there was,
by copying the old manuscripts and maintain-
ing schools. Often they made roads and built
dikes, or kept them in repair. They helped
in many ways to create comfort in the home
and prosperity in the cities.

The raids of the Norsemen, which began as
early as a. d. 8io, also aided the growth of feu-
dalism, and of these men and their attacks we
must now give an account.

The Netherlands are nearer the North Pole
than we are, for they lie above the fiftieth
parallel of north latitude, which is as far north
as are Labrador and Hudson's Bay and the
lower part of Alaska on our continent. Still
further northward and eastward lie Denmark,
Sweden, and Norway. The coasts of these
lands are rich in bays and rivers running into
the sea. These are called viks, and the men
living near the viks, vikings. These " bay-
men," or " creekers," were a daring set of peo-
ple, whom we call the Norsemen. They were
fond of the sea and of living in boats. There

48

FEUDALISM

was not much to eat in their cold, foggy, and
rocky country. So driven forth, not only by
hunger, but by thirst of adventure, they sailed
down toward the sunnier, richer countries of
the south. They liked to dash out from Jut-
land and Scandinavia and the coasts and isl-
ands in the Baltic Sea, and come southward to
the Netherlands, and down through the British
Isles to rob, burn, and kill.

In England these pirates were called East-
men or Danes, but on the continent they were
called North-men, Norse, or Normans. No
Christianity had yet come among them, and,
fierce pagans as they were, they liked to go
into the Christian churches to defile and burn
them. But woe be to Dane or Norman if
caught at such business. He was skinned
alive, and his hide nailed on the church door,
or he was taken down to the seashore and had
his head cut off.

These skillful seamen from the north built
small, sharp, open vessels, by which they were
able to go up the narrow rivers of Europe.
Thus they scoured not only the coasts of Eng-
land, France, Germany, and the Netherlands,
but went far inland. Landing in the morning
at a village, they would leave it at night a level
mass of smoking ashes, with the dead and

49

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

wounded lying around. Then they sailed
away again, with their boats loaded with plun-
der or filled with men and women to be sold
for slaves.

By and by, about the middle of the ninth
century, instead of arriving in small raiding
parties, the Vikings came in great fleets, and
their armies were able to besiege and take
cities. Often they would spend a winter or
longer in one place, and in time even made
permanent settlements. Later on, they scat-
tered themselves and went further afield, visit-
ing Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, and Russia,
while in the far west they even dared to go
out into the deep sea. They settled Iceland
and made colonies in America.

These bold sailors had no compasses or
charts. By night they followed the stars and
steered by them. When the fog covered the
sea, so they could not discern anything, they
sent out the raven, as Noah did from the ark,
to find land. If the raven returned, they knew
there was no land. If the raven never came
back, they turned their prows in the direction
of its flight and soon reached some shore. At
first their boats were so small that, when they
met with an obstacle, they could take them up
on their shoulders and carry them overland

5°

FEUDALISM

from one water-course to another. Later, they
built great galleys with masts and sails. The
prow was high, and was usually ornamented
or carved with a dragon's head or terrible fig-
ure of some kind. Behind this prow, a man
who acted as the lookout stood on a platform
watching ahead, while on another raised deck
toward the stern were the chieftains or the
steersmen.

How could the people of the Netherlands
live amid such alarms ? Their whole country,
especially along the rivers and seacoast, was
in constant danger from these cruel pirates,
who not only burned, robbed, and killed, but
carried their captives away into slavery. The
people on the coast and along the rivers were
in continual terror. By degrees they left their
homes and settled around the baron's castle,
becoming his slaves. They gave themselves
up to the churches and monasteries, as serfs for
life. In this way the bishops and the barons
grew richer and richer and the people poorer
and poorer, thousands of them being nothing
but slaves.

Yet there was a difference even among the
slaves, for there were various classes of them.
The church slaves were treated more kindly
and had many more rights than the slaves of

51

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

the barons, who in some cases were hardly more
than brutes. There was also a class called the
villagers, or villeins, who were a little above the
absolute slaves.

For a time, even the free Frisians were
conquered and held in bondage. Godfrey
the Norman- was king over them during a
part of the ninth century. Every Frisian had
to wear a halter around his neck, until God-
frey was killed. Then the Frisians were again
free.

While the country was thus kept in alarm
by the raids of the Norse pirates, the power of
the German emperor, who lived far away, be-
came less and less, while that of the dukes and
barons who lived in the land increased. Men
cared more for the strong hand that could im-
mediately protect them than for some crowned
head hundreds of miles off. The castles and
monasteries became the real centres of power.
Soon all the land in the country was owned
by the barons or the bishops. Their retainers,
as well as the knights and the monks, lived off
the people, who were taught that they owed
their very life to their masters. Dark and
dreary for the mass of the people was the
age of feudalism. From the ninth to the thir-
teenth century, most of the common folk were

5-

FEUDALISM

poor, wretched, and hopeless. Humanity was
setthng down into stagnation. Something
must come forth to stir and rouse society from
its torpor. What should it be ?

53

CHAPTER VII

THE CRUSADERS IN ASIA

Every morning, out of the black night, light
dawns in the east. So in history. All the
great religions have come out of Asia, and so
have many of the best ideas and inventions.
Over darkest Europe, in the eleventh century,
we note streaks of light and an influence which
moved Europe to new life.

It came about in this way. From the time
that the Christian missionaries first entered
northern Europe, preaching the gospel and
telling the story of Christ's life, people longed
to visit the Holy Land to see Bethlehem and
Jerusalem. Men, and even women, had trav-
eled to Palestine, making pious pilgrimage to
the place of Jesus' birth and sepulchre. Little
or nothing was done to hinder them ; but in
the year 1065 the Seljuk Turks overran and
conquered Syria. Then these proud fellows
began to insult and treat very cruelly the pil-
grims from the Christian countries.

These holy and traveled people were called
54

THE CRUSADERS IN ASIA

" palmers," because they brought home a palm
branch from Syria and laid it on the parish
church altar, or they made a cross of slips of
palm and sewed it on their hats. They usu-
ally carried a long staff also, often with a piece
tied at right angles near the upper end, thus
making a cross above their heads. On their
return home, they fixed a scallop shell, picked
up in Palestine, to their dress. This was to
show that they had been pilgrims to the Holy
Land.

In fact, during the middle ages, many classes
and various sorts of people were marked in
some way on their dress. The Jews and other
persons not considered Christians, the lepers
and diseased people generally, were forced to
sew on their clothing a round, square, or con-
ical mark. Those who had broken the law
by committing some felony, such as theft,
arson, blasphemy, etc., had a scarlet letter, the
initial of their crime, at first branded on their
foreheads, and later sewed upon their breasts,
as R for robbery, D for drunkard, etc.

The stories of cruelty to Christian pilgrims
at the hands of the Turks lost nothing in the
telling. Fiery preachers went all over Europe
speaking to great crowds in the churches and
fields. Not in one country only, but in several

55

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

of them, people were roused to go to Pales-
tine and recover the sacred places from the
Turks. As they brooded over the matter,
they went wild over it. Many thousands of all
ages started in crowds to go to the Far East.
They swarmed together, not knowing where
they could get food to eat or how to find ships
to cross the seas ; but they went. No doubt
with very many, it was as much to get rid of
work, or to be free from slavery, or to enjoy
novelty and adventure, as it was with any
Christian motive, that they thus set their faces
towards the sunrise.

These wars for the cross began by the move-
ment of a rabble, made up of four great armies,
gathered from the very dregs of Christendom.
A man named Walter the Penniless com-
manded the first host of twenty thousand, who
were almost all destroyed by the Bulgarians.
Another swarm of forty thousand men, women,
and children was led by Peter the Hermit,
who had been in the Holy Land, and who
went about preaching in several countries,
rousing the people. The Turks, at Nice, de-
stroyed this mob. Another band of fifteen
thousand, chiefly Germans, was killed or scat-
tered in Hungary. The last of the four mobs,
made up of people from France and Eng-

56

THE CRUSADERS IN ASIA

land, numbering, it is said, 200,000, also went
to pieces on the road, and the expedition
amounted to nothing. After the lower classes
had tried and failed, the priests and the soldiers
joined forces for a new enterprise. By this
time the Syrians, Turks, Arabs, and the Ma-
hometan peoples of the East were called by
the general name of " Saracens," which means
Eastern people.

In 1095 at Clermont, in France, in a great
council, which was addressed by the Pope, a
crusade was decided upon under the patronage
of the Church. The knights and the nobles
took part. Six splendid armies, led by the
Southern Netherlanders, were formed, and
moved towards the rising sun. Godfrey de
Bouillon, with other great warriors, captured
Nice and besieged Antioch. After wonderful
battles, they reached Jerusalem, but only forty
thousand of the half million of men that
started, remained. The city was taken and
Godfrey made king.

From this time forth, crusading was a regu-
lar occupation, for the Saracens rallied, and
various expeditions from Europe were neces-
sary to drive them back. Even the children
joined in the holy war. In bands numbering
tens of thousands, they left France and Ger-

57

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

many, expecting that the Mediterranean Sea
would open a path, so that they could walk dry-
shod to Palestine. They thought, for they
were so taught, that the Turks would be con-
verted by miracles. No such unnecessary
things happened, however; but thousands of
boys and girls died of hunger, cold, and fatigue
on the road, were drowned, or were taken and
made slaves. A few returned home.

At last these movements eastward, which
had lasted for over two hundred years, came
to an end. The Saracens still held the Holy
Land. The Christians had wasted millions
of money and hundreds of thousands of lives.
What was the use of all this waste, and what
came of it ?

We answer, much every way. Society in
Europe was roused from its stagnation and
stirred up to newer and better life. In the
first place, slavery was nearly destroyed by the
crusades. The slaves that enlisted to fight
under the banner of the cross were made free.
In this way thousands, on their return from
Palestine, became free men. Other thousands
of human beings, sold or mortgaged by the cru-
sading knights, were bought by the churches
and monasteries, and even without their stir-
ring a step their position in life was greatly im-

58

THE CRUSADERS IN ASIA

proved. With so many serfs abroad, free
labor at home became more and more the rule,
and the condition of the freemen, mechanics,
and traders was far better than it had been.
Population increased. The people formed
themselves into guilds and communities. As
they grew richer, they were able to have law
equal for all, instead of the mere will or pleasure
of the lord of the castle or of the land. Thus
villages and towns, having their own rights,
grew up. By and by the castles, moats, and
thick masonry of the barons were no longer
the only means of protection, for the towns also
could afford to build walls to defend those who
lived inside, with towers to watch enemies and
gates to keep them out. They began to guard
themselves, not only from foreigners and rob-
bers, but even from the lord of the land, when
he was cruel and unjust ; or from the bishop,
who was often as bad as the baron.

But more than this, these people of the
North learned a great deal in their travels in
the South and East. Going out from the land
of storms and fog, of rain and cold, where, be-
sides the daily food of bread and cheese or
meat, beer and butter were almost the only
luxuries, they entered into the bright and sunny
world of the South. Here rice and figs grew,

59

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

and oil and wine, while fruits of many sorts
abounded. In these warmer lands they be-
held the wonderful relics of the old Roman
world — splendid churches, richer and grander
cities, finer houses, and inventions that aston-
ished' them. When these men, who thought
they were honoring God because they sewed a
cross on their coats, reached Syria, they met
with a great surprise. The Saracens, whom
they had been taught to regard as black devils,
were found to be elegant in appearance and
refined in manners. Many of them dressed in
silks or other fine clothing, and wore jewels
and superb weapons, such as the rude Nether-
landers had never seen. Many of the Saracens
could read, and were learned in many sciences,
such as astronomy, medicine, and mathematics.
The crusaders discovered also that their ene-
mies, whom they had been taught to hate as
outcasts and infidels, were not only brave, but
were moral men, often superior in character to
themselves. All this astonished them.

In other ways, travel to Asia opened the
eyes of the crusaders. They learned that those
who talked most about religion and the war
for the cross loved money rather too much,
and kept up the campaigns for glory and gain
rather than for love to God. In the East they

60

THE CRUSADERS IN ASIA

saw trees and flowers very different from those
in the West and North. They brought back
many seeds, both for the mind and for the soil.
With new kinds of flowers to enjoy, and with
food growing up out of the earth which their
fathers had never seen ; with new stories to tell,
and new books and writings to read, and with
trade, both overland and by sea, enriching the
Italians and the other European peoples, the
age of commerce began. Among the first to
profit by their opportunities were the Nether-
landers.

Feudalism was the age of the knight and
the horse. Except the priests and churchmen,
no one was considered of any great value in
society unless he owned land or horses, or
served some one who did own them, and knew
how to ride and fight. As trade and com-
merce became of more importance, there was
less need of the knight. So feudalism gradu-
ally passed away, while the merchant took the
place of the knight, and the skilled mechanic
that of the soldier.

One bright flower grew out of the old state
of things. Looking back at the inheritances
from the feudal ages, we may count chivalry
as the best of all. It was a school of fine
manners. Courtesy, generosity, valor, and skill

6i

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

in arms and on horseback were the virtues in
which the good knight was trained. Chivalry
marks the transition from violence to culture.
It gave rise to the literature of the chroniclers,
such as that of Froissart, who tells so many
delightful stories ; and to the songs and stories
of the troubadours, who were the wandering
singers of the middle ages. Cervantes, in his
" Don Quixote," makes fun of the silly knight
who, on his nag Rozinante, charges at a wind-
mill. There were other witty writers who ridi-
culed the extravagancies of the feudal period.
Yet it was during this time that traditions
of manners, poetry, and art, which still have
force in our society, were created. Men's
minds were so expanded by coming into con-
tact with Greek and Oriental civilization, and
the new methods of trade and ownership of
land, and the cultivation of it, that Europe was
well prepared to enter the higher school of life
and thought in the great Reformation. Most of
the titles and polite customs of our day, such
as the use of " sir " and " madame," " Mr." and
" Mrs.," bowing, and taking o£E the hat, and
various other courtesies of daily life, have come
down to us from the feudal age, to be no
longer the sole monopoly of knights and titled
ladies, but the property of everybody.

63

CHAPTER VIII

THE FIRST COUNTS OF HOLLAND

Up to this time we have not met with the
name of Holland, or indeed with many people
having names. We have known of tribes, and
of Romans, Netherlanders, and Germanic peo-
ples, but not much of individuals. People at
large did not have family names. The great
majority of girls were named after the Virgin
Mary, or Elisabeth, the mother of John the
Baptist, and the majority of boys after their
fathers, the oldest son taking his parent's par-
ticular name, with the word " son " after it, the
others having only their given names, usually
borrowed from those of the saints in the calen-
dar. It was not until the people of northern
Europe had the Bible in their own tongues,
and could read it, that there was much variety
in this respect. Then names were borrowed
by wholesale and in great variety from the
pages of Holy Scripture.

We have seen that the Netherlands were
once part of the Prankish empire, which had

63

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

fallen to pieces after the death of Charlemagne.
Charles the Simple was the last of the line
called Carlovingian, and after him came Henry
the Fowler, who ruled over the Franks and
Netherlanders. In 925 the Low Countries
passed from the control of France and were
put under that of Germany, being still part of
the empire. On Easter evening, the 20th of
April, in the year 922, this King Charles the
Simple gave to Count Dirk I. that part of the
country called Holland. The name Dirk is
the short form of Theodoric, a favorite saint's
name. Dirk is reckoned the first count of
Holland, perhaps because he was the first man
to possess the monastery of Egmond; and from
him the line of succession and the thread of
Dutch history continue unbroken. We can
now begin to think of Dutchmen as distinct
from Germans.

It is wonderful how much history depends
upon a few drops of ink on a sheet of parch-
ment or paper. There may be mighty men
who do great things, but unless some one
writes about them, to celebrate their deeds and
make them famous, we know nothing of them
except in myths or fairy tales, in which it is
hard to separate fact from fiction. " Life with-

64

THE FIRST COUNTS OF HOLLAND

out letters is death," and it is like black night
where there are no writings.

Egmond Abbey, now in ruins, was one of
the oldest monasteries in North Holland. It
was built first of wood and afterwards of brick.
There, for hundreds of years, almost all the
manuscripts which told the early history of
the Netherlands were kept. In this abbey the
monks sat by their rude oaken tables, each
with his ink-horn and parchment, and copied
out what could be read in the Latin chronicles.
They also listened to the accounts of old men
who remembered what had happened in days
gone by. They heard travelers and strangers
from far countries tell the news, or relate their
stories. Thus they wrote down many fasci-
nating annals and anecdotes, which serve us
as material for history. They began also the
first museums. In Egmond Abbey was the
fountain of the stream of Holland's history.

Almost all we know of Count Dirk I., the
founder of the Holland House, is, that in this
sandy region of Egmond, near the sea, he
established a nunnery and built a wooden
church, which he dedicated to St. Adelbert,
the English missionary who had come over
with Willibrord. Dirk died probably in the
year 923.

65

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

The word "count " means " companion," that
is, of the emperor. The count was the ruler,
in place of the emperor, over a certain portion
of the empire. The counts of Holland, sixteen
in number, and one countess, ruled their do-
main from A. D. 923 to A. D. 1299. During this
period the little states of the Netherlands, with
the names of which we are now so familiar, Hol-
land, Utrecht, Brabant, Flanders, etc., began
to take form, and the cities of Dordrecht, The
Hague, Amsterdam, etc., were built. It was
a time of petty wars and quarrels about land,
trade, and power. The count and the bishop,
the Hollanders and the Frisians, the Zee-
landers and the Flemings, the upper classes
and the lower, were often at war. Under the
feudal system all the land was supposed to be-
long to the emperor. He could give it away
to this or that servant, as he pleased. Or he
could order off one vassal to this place or that,
and compel another to take the place vacated.
This is exactly what I saw done in the feudal
system of Japan, under which I lived in 1870-
187 1. It was like playing a game of chess
on a large scale, the pieces being noblemen,
differing in rank and value; but all Europe
was like a chessboard. The contest was be-
tween the count and the bishop, the emperor

66

THE FIRST COUNTS OF HOLLAND

and his vassals. Indeed, our game of chess,
which has come to us from Asia, and takes its
name from the Shah of Persia, is only a minia-
ture of mediaeval history, and represents in
play that which took place in actual history.

Yet neither the rulers nor the people were
always at war. There were many sunny days
of peace, many great churches and castles
built, and wonderful things accomplished, chief
among which was the building of the dikes.

Holland is like a fortress, in a constant state
of siege by the waters, fresh and salt, of rivers
and of ocean, that in times of storm attack and
would destroy it. Now, in these days of skill-
ful engineering, it is like a modern ship built
in water-tight compartments. But the land
was not of old protected, as it is now, from the
river and sea floods, by the dikes or walls of
earth, wood, and stone which form its armor
of defense.

Every dike or dam in the Netherlands is
like the steel plates of a battleship. It is put
on both as a shield to ward off real danger,
and to keep the country afloat. Yet both the
word, and the thing for making this ship-like
hollow land water-tight, are quite modern, no
city whose name ends in " dam " being older
than the twelfth century. Only those towns

67

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

built on hard and dry ground were of old safe
from the waters.

In 1 1 70 the ocean flood rolled in over Hol-
land, Friesland, and Utrecht, and thousands
of people were drowned. It was a curious
sight when boys and men, standing on the
walls of the cities, threw down their nets and
caught fish thus brought to their doors. The
Netherlands suffered again and again from
this overstreaming of the waters, until finally
her people had made it on all sides a dike-clad
land, in which they could sleep safely ; but they
spent many hundred millions of money to
secure this.

The relations between Scotland and the
Netherlands have been very close from the
twelfth century. Through the marriage of a
Scottish princess, they were centred in Zee-
land.. At the little town of Veer, the Scottish
merchants were allowed to settle and to have
the monopoly, or sole right, of trade between
Holland and Scotland. Many of them married
Dutch ladies and grew rich, or became magis-
trates. They traded the wool of the sheep
that grazed amid the heather of Scotland for
the butter and cheese which the mild-eyed
cows of the Netherlands produced. By and
by these Scotsmen in Veer built a very fine

68

THE FIRST COUNTS OF HOLLAND

store and trading-house of oak and stone, deco-
rated on the outside with ironwork, showing
the Scottish thistle and its prickly leaves. This
edifice is still standing, and next door to it is
the house of the chief of the company, both
buildings being kept in order by the Dutch
government. Veer is much the same word as
our word " ferry." The town arms represent
two men ; each is on a tower, holding a shield ;
between the towers a boat is passing on the
canal, which joins the different waters in one
stream. Thus the town arms tell the story of
geography and history.

The crusades took place during the age
of the counts, and the Dutch won some glory
in them. In the month of May, 1217, Count
William sailed with twelve large ships down
the river Maas. Remaining part of a year in
Portugal, he sailed to Syria and later over to
Egypt.

Then followed one of the most brilliant epi-
sodes in all the history of the Dutch crusades.
A victory was gained which is celebrated in
Haarlem at nine o'clock every evening by
ringing the bells in the great church. This
carillon is called " the Damietje," because it
celebrates the capture, in 12 19, of Damietta, in
Egypt, which was accomplished on this wise.
69

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

The city lay on the east branch of the Nile.
Out in the river was a great rock, on which a
fort had been built. Between the city and the
fort was a mighty chain of iron. It was neces-
sary first to capture the fort, and then break
the chain, so as to let in the fleet. The Dutch-
men grappled their vessels together and, by
means of four tall masts, built a high tower on
the decks. Near the top of this floating castle
of wood, they fastened, by means of chains and
pulleys, a sort of drawbridge. Running their
vessels close up to the walls of the fort, they
lowered their drawbridge until one end of it
lay on the parapet. Then streaming out over
the walls into the fort, the brave fellows cap-
tured it and raised their flag. The other ships
broke the chain, and so the whole fleet getting
under the city walls, the sailors and soldiers
soon conquered Damietta. William returned
in triumph to Holland, ruled four years longer,
and died in 1224.

Haarlem's coat of arms is a sword laid on a
shield between four stars, and surmounted by
a Maltese cross. On each side is a lion, and
over the shield are tall branches, on which
hang bells with the motto, Vicit Vim Virtus,
or " Courage conquered force." It was given
to the brave Haarlemmers, who were chiefly

70

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THE FIRST COUNTS OF HOLLAND

engaged in the capture of Damietta, by the
emperor Frederick Barbarossa, in the presence
of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. By this time,
also, coins, with the arms of Holland stamped
on them, were in general circulation. Count
William also gave to the city of Middelburg,
in 1253, a charter of liberties, which is still
sacredly preserved.

Meanwhile, at home trade and commerce
were increasing, and as the towns grew richer
and larger, the count had to take their advice
in regard to war or treaties. If the towns were
against him-, he could not fight, for he could
get no money. War or peace depended on
their mint and vote. Thus, gradually, a na-
tional assembly, or congress, was formed. This
congress was called the " states," or " states-
general," because the " states," or " estates,"
were made up of the delegates from each town,
and also from the open country ; that is, the
cities and the nobility. The states-general was
composed of the states particularly united in
one body. This body voted the money to be
given to the count for the public good.

In all cases of extra expense, the count was
obliged to ask for money from the cities as a
favor, and not as a right. Such money was
raised by taxes laid upon houses and upon

71

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

lands. For centuries this request of the count
for a tax was called " bede," or prayer. It was
a settled principle that there should be "no
taxation without consent ; " that is, the states,
and not the prince or count, were to fix the
amount of money to be given. This has since
become the settled principle in all nations hav-
ing representative institptions.

The rulers of Europe were beginning to see
the evils of the feudal system, and to curb the
power of the nobles, who lived in their fortified
castles and cared little or nothing for the poor
people, besides often plundering them. In
Frisia the feudal system never took deep root,
and even the nobles did not have, as in France,
Spain, England, and parts of Germany, the
privilege of coining money or of putting men
to death for crime. Nevertheless, they could
tax the people heavily, and this they often did.
From the time of Floris V., the people became
more attached to the count, who granted many
valuable charters and favored the commons
rather than the nobles, who were vexed at the
count. The nobles and vassals were free from
taxation, and when Floris tried to make them
pay their share of money for good government,
they rebelled. The revolt was quieted, though
the leader was banished.

THE FIRST COUNTS OF HOLLAND

Falconry was one of the sports of the middle
ages most cultivated by the nobles, and ladies
as well as gentlemen took part in it. Falcons
were trained to mount up into the air and, with
their fierce claws and sharp beaks, to catch
and kill the little birds flying about, of which
the country was full. Even the large and help-
less ones, as cranes and storks, were attacked
and brought down by these living arrows of
the air. The hunter-bird was kept hooded, so
that it could not see until it was let loose. The
men who took care of the game-birds carried
them on their wrists. When there were many
of them, the falconer would have a half dozen
perching on a hoop, which he kept around him
and held on straps from his shoulders.

This custom of hunting birds with birds is
very ancient in the Far East, as in China and
Japan, and was introduced into Europe from
the East, coming, as printing probably also did
later, with the Tartars to Russia. One king
was so fond of the sport (as Charlemagne
had also been) that he was called Henry the
Fowler, and one emperor wrote a little book
on the subject of hunting with birds. So un-
erring was the falcon in darting upon the prey
and catching it, even at long distances, that
when firearms were invented the cannon were

73

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

named after the different kinds of falcons, as
well as after quick-darting reptiles and beasts
of prey. The female bird was the stronger
and the larger. The male, being smaller and
weaker, was called falconet. There were offi-
cers in charge of the falcons, and it requires
almost a small dictionary to give and define
the meaning of all the words about the subject.
The time of the chase was either early in the
morning or towards evening.

When proper game was discovered, the tiny
hood was pulled off the falcon's eyes. Imme-
diately the trained bird of prey darted like an
arrow high into the air, rose in rapid circles
above, and then suddenly swooped upon its
victim. When the bird to be seized was large
and powerful, with strong wings and sharp
beak, the falcon had to be very cautious and
cunning in turning, wheeling, and striking at
the right moment. Sometimes " the plucky fal-
con had its leg broken," as says the proverb of
Japan. Having won her prize, she swept in
large circles over the head of the falconer, and
finally presented him the booty. This he put
in his game bag, and then gave the falcon food
to encourage her. Some falcons were trained
to soar high in the air, others on a lower but
wider range. Some were best for the inland

74

THE FIRST COUNTS OF HOLLAND

country, others for the seashore, river banks,
and the marshes ; for in the Netherlands the
birds are numerous everywhere.

In Holland the huntsmen were often helped
by trained dogs. Herons were very plentiful,
and if they saw the falcon they would keep
among the rushes and be safe. In this case,
the sportsmen beat a drum and scared them, so
they rose up in the air. Then the dogs were
sent into their hiding-places to bark and keep
the herons from coming to cover again. In
this way the poor creatures were easily seized.
The largest species of hawks and eagles were
trained to catch even foxes and hares.

The ladies also rode out on horseback with
the knights and yeomen and mightily enjoyed
the excitement of hunting. This was almost
the only outdoor sport in which the women
took part, and a crowd usually gathered round
the castle gate on hawking days. It was a
very pretty sight to see the lords and ladies
gayly dressed, and the falconers picturesquely
arrayed, issuing in a cavalcade from beneath
the battlements, to hunt on the moors and
lowlands.

It was at one of these falcon parties in 1296
that Count Floris was slain at Utrecht by
jealous nobles who hated him for political

75

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

reasons. The lords of Amstel and Woerden
were at feud, or quarrel, and he came hoping
to reconcile them. So it came to pass that
when he was called early on that fateful morn-
ing in 1296 to go out hawking, he gladly
dressed himself and was soon ready. These
old feudal lords were great drinkers. Before
starting out, Floris asked Amstel to drain a
" stirrup cup " to Saint Gertrude. This famous
lady of. the middle ages had, about the middle
of the seventh century, founded the church
at Geertruydenburg, and was the patron saint
of travelers. The men were only too glad to
drink to her honor, and as they quaffed the
liquor when fresh in the saddle, they called it
a " stirrup cup."

Amstel was a traitor. Taking the beaker
from his master's hand, he said, " God protect
you, I will ride forward." He drank the con-
tents and then galloped away. Floris was so
eager to see the sport from the beginning
that, instead of taking his trusty knights with
him, he rode away with only two pages. About
two miles from the city he met several of the
nobles. To these he said " good-morning,"
and received a falcon, which he put upon his
wrist ; but at this point Woerden seized the
bridle of the count's horse and said to him,

76

THE FIRST COUNTS OF HOLLAND

" You shall drive us no more. You are our
prisoner." Taking this as a joke the count
laughed, but when another noble snatched
the falcon rudely from his wrist, Floris drew
his sword. Then Velsen, another nobleman,
threatened to cleave his head if he made any
movement. After imprisoning him in the
gloomy castle of Muiden, which is still stand-
ing, they slew him near Naarden.

In the church of St. Lawrence, at Alkmaar,
there is a splendid tomb reared to the memory
of Floris ; and well he deserves it, for he was
one of the greatest of the counts of Holland.
He founded the order of the Knights of St.
James in 1290. He was a builder of roads
and dikes and greatly improved the country
and its trade. He was a brave soldier, a wise
ruler, and always the protector of the people
against the nobles. He was a finely formed
man, with a ruddy face and handsome features.
Active in his habits and loving outdoor life,
he was also skillful in music and eloquent in
speech.

Many of the wicked nobles had to fly the
country. Some died in exile. Others were
captured in the castle whither they had fled.
Others were tortured and then put to death
for their great crimes. Indeed, just at a time

77

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

when the towns were rising in strength and
power, the feudal lords lost their power and
influence by their own folly. From this time
forth the common people gained greatly in
freedom, wealth, and privilege.

The son of the dead count was John, then
in England. Here he married the princess
Elizabeth, and with his nobles and many pre-
sents returned to Holland ; but he was very
young and had but a short and stormy career.
He died of malarial fever in 1299. As he left
no children, and as there was no other heir to
the countship, the line of the house of Holland
came to an end, and the succession was trans-
ferred to the house, or family, of Hainault.

Thus ended sadly a long and heroic line
of sixteen counts and one countess. These
rulers, take them all in all, were brave and
wise. Under their riile, from the year 923 to
that of 1299, the country was raised from a
half-drained marsh to be one of the rich states
of Europe, whose help or alliance the kings of
other lands were glad to have. Under them
good laws were made and good government
established, while for the most part the people
lived happily and the country increased in
freedom, in trade, in wealth, and in learning.
It is no wonder that the Dutch look back to

78

THE FIRST COUNTS OF HOLLAND

the era of the ancient counts of Holland as a
kind of golden age. Not only are their tombs
in the churches reverently visited and looked
upon, but in the Binnen Hof, at the centre
of the city of The Hague, there is a splendid
memorial in ornamental ironwork, richly deco-
rated in colors and gold ; while in the niches
of the various town halls there are handsome
statues, which the people of to-day delight
to look upon. In every family and school,
the story of the counts of Holland is told
and heard with equal delight to narrator and
listener.

The names of these sixteen counts of Hol-
land were, Dirk I., Dirk 11., Arnold, Dirk HI.,
Dirk IV., Floris I., Dirk V., Floris II., Dirk
VI., Floris III., Dirk VII., William I., Floris
IV., William II., Floris V., and John I. The
Countess Ada, daughter of Dirk VII., ruled
but a few weeks, married Lodewijk, Count
van Loon, and was succeeded by her uncle,
William I.

79

CHAPTER IX

THE HOUSE OF HAINAULT

The new ruler, the count of Avennes, also
named John, visited Holland and was acknow-
ledged by the nobles, towns, and commons as
the land's lord. Yet among the nobility the
party of Van Borselen was still against him.
They had much power, and they even got aid
from the emperor of Germany. Some fight-
ing took place both on land and water. It
came to pass in the next year that Count John
gave to his brother Guy the government of
Holland and Zeeland.

This was the signal for troubles with the
warrior-bishop of Utrecht, and when, after a
few skirmishes, these were over, the Flemings
and the Zeelanders fought in a great naval
battle near Zierikzee. When Count John died,
late in 1 299, his son, William the Good, suc-
ceeded, and the long and wasteful wars be-
tween Holland and Flanders were over; and
Count William III, and his people enjoyed
for a while the quiet of home life,

80

THE HOUSE OF HAINAULT

William, beginning in 1304, made alliances
honorable and advantageous to Holland, but
he had much anxiety and trouble because of
the mixed politics of Europe, and the quarrels
between the papal and imperial factions ; for
at this time there were two popes, one at
Avignon and one at Rome.

A daughter, born to him and named Mar-
garet, became the wife of Louis of Bavaria,
emperor of Germany. It was a proud day for
the Netherlanders when Margaret of Holland
was crowned empress in 1328.

William's younger daughter, Philippa, was
married to King Edward III. of England. A
body of three thousand Netherlandish soldiers
set sail from Dordrecht and went over to Eng-
land to support her husband, the young king,
in his wars.

At home, William became the sole ruler of
Friesland, without interference of the bishop
of Utrecht. The Frisians showed their loyalty
•in the old hearty way of their forefathers.
They made Count William stand upon a shield.
Then, after some stalwart men had lifted it in
the air, and he stood over their heads, they
all did him homage by shouting in unison.
William had. what was called a brilliant foreign
policy, but at home he was in want of money.

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

for he spent more than he earned. He was
very fond of tournaments, but these, with their
flags and decorations, arms and armor, ban-
quets and servants, were very expensive. When
he took a journey, which was very often, or
when one of his four daughters was married,
he called upon the towns for large sums of
money to pay the cost. All this made his peo-
ple grumble. The men of Kennemer Land
declined to pay, unless he gave them a charter
of privileges ; but he refused, and took away
from them even what they had had. He
treated the people of Dordrecht in the same
surly manner, so that he became very un-
popular.

The Hollanders were industrious, and did
not like a count who was wasteful. Although
in William's lifetime Holland won renown
abroad, yet his government was not a happy
one for the people. The Dutch thought that
he did too much for Hainault, and not enough
for Holland, and neglected the business inter-
ests of the country. During his time, also,
many Dutch clothmakers went over to Eng-
land and settled there, because King Edward
HI. had forbidden the export of wool, which
was the basis of English trade abroad.

82

BATTLE ON THE ICE BETWEEN FRISIANS AND HOLLANDERS

THE HOUSE OF HAINAULT

The plague that troubled other parts of
Europe was but slightly felt in Holland, and
the price of rye, which at that time almost all
the people of Europe used, fell from fifteen
pence to three and a half pence a bushel. Few
people could afford to eat wheat bread, even
though a penny was then worth five or six
times more than at the present time.

William III., called also William the Pious,
the Master of Knights, and Chief of Princes,
died in 1337. He left four daughters: Mar-
garet, empress of Germany ; Philippa, queen of
England ; Joanna, the countess of Julieres ; and
Elizabeth.

His only son, William, became count under
the title of William IV. He raised money for
his wars by borrowing from the townspeople.
They were only too glad to furnish him with
the cash, provided he would grant them more
rights and greater privileges. Thus the cus-
tom of public loans grew up, and through it
life in the cities became richer and more joyous.

William's reign was very short. In a battle
with the Frisians, on the very spot where their
ancient kings held their supreme court, he lost
his army and his life. His dying childless left
the land in turmoil.

83

HISTORY OF HOLLAXD

It is now time to look at internal politics ;
for as the people were getting more and more
rights and power, they formed powerful parties,
and with very Dutch names.

84

CHAPTER X

THE CODS AND HOOKS

After the death of William IV., as stated in
our last chapter, it became a serious question
who was the ruler of Holland. His decease
was the signal for an outbreak of riot and civil
war that lasted through several generations.
It was a time when the old feudalism was
breaking up, and the cities were becoming
more and more powerful as against the nobles,
there being much hostility and jealousy be-
tween the two. Two great parties were formed,
which had names very suitable in a watery
country in which the people lived largely by
fishing. They were called the " Codfishes "
and the " Fishhooks." The nobles and citizens
of the larger cities were, as a rule, Cods. The
country folk and people of the smaller towns
were the Hooks.

The cod is a voracious creature, able to eat
up the little fishes ; but the fishhook, in the
hands of a fisherman, can catch him and carry
him off. The Codfishes were the more numer-

85

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

ous, but the Fishhooks were the stronger. It
is said that the Cods first got their name from
their armor, which looked like the scales of a
fish. Oftentimes brothers and relations of the
same family, and men who were neighbors
in the same city, were divided between these
parties. Many a squabble took place along
the canals and at the bridges, during which
there was great uproar and much blood was
shed.

Holland had always been an undivided he-
reditary estate. Margaret, the eldest daughter
of William III., and empress of Germany, con-
sidered that she was ruler of the country ; and
though it was winter, she traveled at once into
Holland, before Edward, king of England,
and husband of her sister Philippa, could pre-
sent his wife's claim. The Dutchmen, finding
her so anxious to rule, at once took advantage
of their opportunity and obtained from her
rights and privileges for which they had long
been waiting. Having accepted the homage
of the Dutch people, she returned to her hus-
band in Bavaria. She sent her second son,
William, to rule Holland while she should be
absent, giving him sole authority and reserv-
ing for herself only a pension.

Margaret's husband, the emperor, died in
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THE CODS AND HOOKS

1347, and since her son William did not pay
the pension he had promised, she returned to
Holland to be its ruler. She obliged her son
William to retire to Hainault ; but he did not
like this arrangement. So he stirred up trou-
ble, and thus Holland was plunged into fresh
wars ; for the quarrels between the mother and
son only furnished fuel to the fire of hatred
between the nobles and people.

In this fourteenth century, the Dutch were
not the only people that were suffering from
the break-up of the old feudalism. In Ger-
many and France also, the people and the no-
bility were arrayed against each other. France
became a field of blood. The awful Jacquerie,
or insurrection of the French peasantry against
the nobles, took place in May, 1358. During
three weeks or more, the oppressed lower
classes broke loose against their masters, the
lords and ladies of France. They burned or
destroyed the houses of the rich and killed
many nobles, committing other horrible crimes.
They were finally beaten in battle and put
down.

In Holland the nobles, and the large cities

forming the Codfish party, took the side of

William V., and invited him to come into

Holland to lead them. The people of the

87

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

country and smaller towns were mostly on
Margaret's side, and she was supported also
by Brederode and some of the popular nobles.
The partisans were distinguished by the color
of their hats, blue or white. Finding the
Hooks were not very strong, Margaret asked
for help from the king of England. The
Cods seized and destroyed seventeen castles
belonging to the Hook nobles, and though in
a naval battle Margaret's allies defeated their
enemies and pursued them, yet, in the river
Maas, William's sailors defeated those of Mar-
garet, and Brederode was taken prisoner. The
houses and castles of the Hook nobles which
remained were torn to pieces or set on fire,
and the Hook nobles were banished.

Margaret crossed over to England and was
soon followed by William, who there married
Matilda, the daughter of the duke of Lanca-
shire. Then peace was made and mother and
son were reconciled. William received Hol-
land, Zeeland, and Friesland in fief, while to
Margaret, Hainault was assigned, and she was
allowed a pension also. She died in 1356.
Then William of Bavaria became the acknow-
ledged count of Holland. Thus the Nether-
lands passed out from the control of the house
of Hainault, which had furnished three counts

THE CODS AND HOOKS

and one countess as rulers of Holland, and
held power during fifty years, from 1299 to
1349 A. D.

Now began the Bavarian dynasty in Hol-
land, which was to last seventy-nine years. As
the Dutch call the house of Hainault, " Het
Huis van Henegouwen," so they speak of the
house of Bavaria as " Het Huis van Beijeren."

89

CHAPTER XI

JACQUELINE OF BAVARIA

The counts of Holland belonging to the house
of Bavaria, three in number, one of whom had
little to do with the northern Netherlands, were
occupied chiefly with troubles in Ghent, where
the people were fiercely democratic, and in
fighting the Frisians, who loved liberty. The
fourth and last ruler of this line in the Nether-
lands was Jacqueline, or Jacoba, as the Dutch
call her. As she is the best known of the
four, we shall devote most of this chapter to
her life and her many adventures and sorrows.
Count Albert ruled forty-six years, dying in
1404. His daughters were married to noble-
men of high rank, and his sons became emi-
nent in office. He had the misfortune to live
in an evil age. Although he was mild and
just, the country was in constant turmoil dur-
ing his whole lifetime ; for he could not control
the Hooks and Cods, or make his subjects
obey him. When he died, he was so poor,
and had so many debts, that his widow, in

90

JACQUELINE OF BAVARIA

order to be free of them, had to renounce all
claim to his estate, or " boedel," — a word
which has since become American slang and
is spelled " boodle."

In this ancient ceremony, the widow first
chose a guardian. Then the body of the count
was placed on a bier and brought before the
door of the court. The widow, having bor-
rowed clothes from some other woman, and
keeping in her hands, or on her person, no-
thing whatever that she had received from her
late husband, walked out from her house to
the corpse with a straw in her hand. This
straw she handed to her guardian, thus re-
nouncing and surrendering in her name all
interest in the estate of her husband, and in
all debts due to or from him. This custom
of using a straw was also common among the
Franks, compacts being broken by breaking a
straw.

In 141 7 the Frisians obtained from the
emperor a charter confirming their independ-
ence. William VI. died this same year and
was succeeded by his daughter Jacoba, or
Jacqueline.

This wonderful woman was destined to be
sadly famous, and to suffer many troubles and
sorrows. Her father. Count William, had

91

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

formed an alliance between her and the son of
the king of France, which country was suffer-
ing from the rival factions of Burgundy and
Orleans. It, was while the house of Burgundy
was in the ascendant that John, the king's
second son, was betrothed to Jacqueline. Both
were so young that they were not married till
141 5, when she was declared heir to Hainault,
Holland, and Friesland.

When his brother Louis died without chil-
dren, John became dauphin, or heir apparent to
the French crown. Yet when envoys came to
invite John to the French court. Count William
was afraid to allow the husband of his only
daughter and child to go to his home ; for
not only was civil war raging, but King Henry
of England had invaded France and fought
the battle of Agincourt, in which 9000 French
knights were killed. Added to this, the Or-
leans faction disliked the young dauphin and
his father. So both remained in Hainault.

During the truce between the French and
English, much diplomacy went on. William
went to Paris, leaving the dauphin at Com-
piegne, while he should arrange the terms of
his reception. But when he heard that he
would be seized by the men in power, he left
Paris and hurried to Compiegne, there to find

92

THE WIDOW OF COUNT ALBERT RENOUNCING HER CLAIM

JACQUELINE OF BAVARIA

his son-in-law dying. It was believed that the
young man had been killed by wearing a mag-
nificent suit of armor which had been lined
with poison.

In those days it was quite a common thing
for polite murderers to get rid of their ene-
mies, not only by putting poison in their food,
but by presenting them with cunningly made
rings. These had a spur or orifice, within
which was a drop of poison, as strong as the
venom which oozes from a rattlesnake's fangs.
The dauphin, delighted with his beautiful ar-
mor, had quickly put it on and worn it, so that
the poison entered his body and he died.

Jacqueline's father was now in a terrible
situation. The succession to power had been
settled upon his daughter, on condition that
her husband should be ruler ; for most of the
Hollanders disliked to be ruled by a woman.
On previous occasions they had almost re-
belled, declaring that they would not be ver-
vrouwd, or " womaned." William was afraid
that his brother John, who had been elected
bishop of Liege, would seize the authority, so
he assembled the nobles of the towns of Hol-
land in congress. They swore to acknowledge
Jacqueline as their ruler, in case he, William,
should die without a son. This was just what

93

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

happened; for only a few weeks later, in 141 7,
as we have said, this handsome and gallant
count, this knight who so often bore away
prizes at the tournaments, lay a corpse.

It was during the early years of Jacqueline
that new sources of wealth were developed.
One was the greater use of the windmill, first
introduced in 1329, and the other was the
general curing of herring by the fishermen.
The gold mines of the Dutch are not in their
muddy ground, but lie in the ocean, in their
brains, and in their habits of industry, which
are better than gold. The herring fisheries
had already begun and brought in plenty of
nourishment for the people. Yet, unlike grain,
this kind of food could not be kept long. When
a Dutchman discovered how to cure or dry the
fish, so that they could be kept over from one
month to another, and even carried to distant
countries and sold, then a great stream of gold
rolled from many lands into the Netherlands.

William Beukels, a poor fisherman of Bier-
vliet, in Zeeland, showed, in 1 350, that herring
could be dried in smoke and thus preserved.
By salting them, they could be packed in kegs
and barrels and exported to foreign countries,
and even to the ends of the earth. Others had
tried to do this, but Beukels was the one who

94

JACQUELINE OF BAVARIA

succeeded. There are even people who say
that our word " pickle " is derived from his
name; but this term comes rather from the
older Dutch word " pekel," or brine of vinegar
and salt, of which the Dutch were always very
fond.

The herrings appear annually in great shoals
around the coast and near the surface of the
water. The larger fishes prey on them, swal-
lowing many at a time, while the gulls and
other sea birds swoop upon them and get fat
by eating them. Yet they are very uncertain,
and come and go without any known reason.
Long before the English and Scotch people
became interested in the herring fisheries, the
Dutch had already got rich by them, and a
proverb declared that " Amsterdam is built on
herring bones."

Hundreds of years after Beukels invented
the pickling of herring, the great emperor,
Charles V., made a pilgrimage to the tomb of
this humble fisherman, and there ate one of
the cured fish, in gratitude for the invention.
Likewise, from time to time, did other kings
and queens.

To-day, in the church at Biervliet, there is a
stained glass window commemorating the fish-
erman who brought what was better than gold

95

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

mines to the Netherlands. Although Scotland
in our day has excelled Holland in bloaters,
red herring, and in fisheries generally, yet the
herring still fills a large part of Holland's horn
of plenty, and brings riches to the people.
Every year, when the first herrings are caught,
they are drawn in a coach and six horses to
the royal palace. At the shops, a crown of
green leaves is hung out to show that these
fresh delicacies are for sale. Smoked, dried,
pickled, kippered, eaten fresh when baked,
boiled, or broiled, or made into salads or pas-
ties, they are the every-day food of millions
of people. The Dutch have many pet names
and proverbs about them. White herring
are called "green," the soused herring are
"pickled," and smoked are "red." Our word
" keg," or " cag," is derived from the Dutch
" kaken," which means " to barrel up." When
people have to sit close together, they say they
are " packed like herrings." The Dutch also
were the first to learn how to make the enor-
mous seines, or nets, to catch herrings by the
thousand. The first one was used at Hoorn.
Millions of dollars are made annually in the
catch and sale of this valuable fish.

The young widow, Jacqueline, though only
seventeen years old, was a wonderful creature,

96

JACQUELINE OF BAVARIA

very beautiful and lovely, and as brave as a
man. Her people were very fond of her, and
she in return loved them and gave them char-
ters and privileges; but the ambition of her
uncle, John the bishop, gave her endless
trouble, and her great beauty and charm were
sources of sorrow rather than of joy to her.

In those days many wicked and worthless
men became bishops for political purposes and
selfish ambition. John, though he wanted to
be bishop, did not take the priest's orders; but
William made him bishop, and then he wished
to be ruler of Holland, against Jacqueline's
right. She resisted. Both uncle and niece
raised armies to fight each other, and war broke
out. John was called " the Ungodly," or the
" Pitiless." The great danger to her country
from this wicked uncle led the young countess
to marry her cousin, John IV., duke of Bra-
bant, and lord of Antwerp, who was even
younger than herself. He and his brother
Philip were sons of that Antony, duke of Bra-
bant, who was killed at the battle of Agincourt.
The older of the two brothers was weak and
tyrannical, the younger was crafty and cruel.
As Jacqueline took a husband for political rea-
sons and not for love, she had many new and
unlooked-for miseries from both these men.

97

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

The wedding took place in the spring of
1418. Upon this, her uncle John resolved to
give up his bishopric, marry a wife, and go into
politics. So he obtained permission from the
Pope, and took to himself Elizabeth of Luxem-
bourg. He then assumed the title of count.
This caused civil war to break out at once ;
for there could not be two counts of Holland
any more than two suns in the same sky.

The Netherlanders, especially those belong-
ing to the Hook party, stood by Jacqueline,
while others, mostly of the Cod party, ranged
themselves with the ex-bishop John. The
struggle was for " boodle," or the spoils of
office ; for politicians were as eager, as hungry,
and covetous then as now. After some blood-
shed and much quarreling, which kept the
country in turmoil, it came to pass that, through
the folly of Jacqueline's worthless husband,
who was feeble in body and mind, lazy and
uncertain, she lost most of her possessions.

This John was a petty tyrant. He ordered
his wife to send away her Dutch ladies from
court, and he put Brabant ladies in their places.
When Jacqueline reached the age of twenty-
one years, she was a bright and vigorous wo-
man, and her spirit revolted against her fate.
Unable to bear the wretchedness of her posi-

98

JACQUELINE OF BAVARIA

tion, she secretly left the court, and, with her
mother, traveled to Calais. Thence she fled
to England, where she was warmly welcomed
by Henry V., who gave her twelve hundred
pounds sterling a year. When the little Eng-
lish baby that became Henry VI. was baptized,
Jacqueline held him at the font.

Jacqueline's beauty brought her into fresh
trouble. The king's brother Humphrey, the
duke of Gloucester, fell in love with her, but
she could not be married without permission
of the Pope. At this time there were two
popes, one at Rome and one at Avignon. One
of them, Benedict XHL, granted a divorce.
The English duke and the Dutch countess,
Humphrey and Jacqueline, were wedded to-
ward the end of the year 1422. This marriage
gave great offense both in England and in the
Netherlands. The new husband and wife in-
vaded Hainault, and some of the cities wel-
comed them; but soon their Dutch enemies
won victories, in which many of their English
soldiers were put to death. When the duke
of Burgundy challenged the duke of Gloucester
to single combat, he, either out of cowardice
or to prepare himself, went over to England,
leaving Jacqueline in Mons. There she was
seized by the citizens and given into the hands

99

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

of the deputies of her late husband, John of
Brabant.

The unhappy woman was taken to Ghent,
to be kept until the other Pope, Martin V.,
should decide upon the question of her mar-
riage; but this time Jacqueline was too clever
for them. In some way she obtained the cloth-
ing of her page, and, putting on male disguise,
escaped into Holland, where the citizens gave
her a warm welcome. The next year her
uncle, John the Ungodly, died from poison,
after naming as his heir Jacqueline's cousin,
Philip of Burgundy.

Jacqueline remained at Gouda waiting for
help from England. She was very fond of
outdoor exercise, shooting at the popinjay,
riding horseback, and distributing prizes to
contestants. Sometimes she rode at the head
of her troops and won victories. The English
came over and helped the Hook party. A
great battle was fought between the allies and
the Cods, in which the former were beaten,
over a thousand soldiers, with many nobles of
Zeeland, being slain. Thus Jacqueline had to
part with the whole of this rich province. In
the north, also, several combats between the
Cods and the Hooks went against her. She
retreated once more to Gouda.

lOO

JACQUELINE GOING FORTH TO SHOOT AT THE POPINJAY

JACQUELINE OF BAVARIA

Jacqueline's great opponent was her cousin
and brother-in-law, Philip of Burgundy, who
secured for himself from her former husband,
John, the title of governor and heir of Holland.
While John gave up all pretense of governing,
Philip proceeded to treat the Dutch people
with great cruelty.

The fortunes of Jacqueline were now at a
low ebb. She had only four towns that ac-
knowledged her. To add to her troubles, the
Pope declared her last marriage unlawful, and
forbade her ever marrying again. Heroic wo-
man as she was, she appealed to the general
council of the Church against the Pope. In
England, the English women sympathized
strongly with her. They came to Parliament,
petitioning the lords and bishops that the
cowardly duke of Gloucester should assist
his Dutch wife and be faithful to her ; but he
forsook the Countess Jacqueline and married
another woman, Eleanor Cobham.

This cruel desertion was a keen pang to a
beautiful and high-spirited woman, a princess
of true birth, and the real ruler of Holland.
She remained in Gouda in grief and inaction,
and when Philip and his army, backed by
the Cods, appeared before the walls, she was
obliged to yield and make a new and humili-

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

ating treaty. She promised not to appeal to
the Pope, to surrender her country to Philip
as ruler, and not to marry again without his
consent and that of her mother, and of the
estates of towns, nobles, and clergy. If she
should remarry, her subjects were to be released
from her control, and she was to be degraded
from her rank and be no longer countess.

Thus, deprived of all real authority, Jacque-
line left Gouda, that had so long been faithful
to her, and went to live in the pretty little town
of Goes. To-day some fragments of her castle
remain in Goes, and in Gouda there is a fine
chalice, superbly enameled and gilded, which
the people still prize highly as the gift of
Jacqueline to the guild of archers in 1425.
The pretty blue and white' porcelain called
Delftware is associated with Jacqueline's name ;
for during her enforced leisure in the convent,
she amused herself and beguiled her time
in moulding and decorating the clay, which,
when fired or baked, gave a new glory to com-
mon earth. " Borselen " became " porcelain."

Philip went back to Flanders and appointed
as his stadholder, or lieutenant, Francis van
Borselen, to rule over Holland and Zeeland.

Having now no wealth or title to bestow,
most of Jacqueline's party, the Hooks, deserted

102

JACQUELINE OF BAVARIA

the unfortunate lady; but Francis van Borse-
len, though one of the Cods, was ever ready to
help her with money and advice. He proved
himself her true friend, so that now, being
more a woman than a politician, she, probably
for the first time in her life, loved truly. When
he pressed her to marry him, she agreed,
though she well knew what would be the pen-
alty of a secret marriage ; for all around her
were Philip's spies, who kept him informed of
what was going on. Yet love conquered and
made her a slave. She was married.

This was just what her crafty and cruel
enemy, Philip, wanted. He now had this
beautiful woman, who was only thirty-five years
old, as much in his power as the falcon that
holds the dove in its beak and claws. He ar-
rested Francis van Borselen at The Hague,
and brought him to Rupelmonde, giving out
that he was to be a prisoner for life. This
he knew would lead the loving Jacqueline,
in order to save him, to yield up her title of
countess and the allegiance of her subjects.
Philip therefore gave to van Borselen other
offices, but he was no longer stadholder, and
Jacqueline was no more a princess. Yet,
though now only a plain woman, passing her
days in obscurity, and with but a small pension,
103

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

it may be that these last were the happiest of
her life. All too swiftly the time sped on, and
soon she fell into a decline. She died in 1426
of consumption, at the age of thirty-six. Her
four husbands were : John, son of Charles VI.
of France; John IV., duke of Brabant; Hum-
phrey, duke of Gloucester; Francis, lord of
Borselen.

What a story of grief and sorrow! Well
might Jacqueline write her biography as one
did, " My whole life has been a disappoint-
ment." She was married four times, but only
once for love, and of her own personal choice.
Betrothed as a girl, she was wedded to a young
prince and had bright hopes of a long reign,
when her first husband died suddenly of poi-
son. Her second political marriage was fruit-
ful only in disgusting misery. Her third was
with a man who had sought her hand and
name for selfish purposes only, and then de-
serted her, a coward and a sneak.

With Jacqueline, whom the Dutch speak of
as " Jacoba van Beijeren," ended the rule, in
1436, of the house of Bavaria in Holland.
The Dutch are never tired of celebrating in
painting, song, and story, on the stage and in
tableaux, her romantic career. She had no
children, and when she died the Netherlands

104

JACQUELINE OF BAVARIA

became united with the realm of the duke of
Burgundy.

It was while Jacqueline was in England that
the disastrous flood of 1421 took place, called
Saint Elizabeth's flood. In South Holland,
which was then the richest district of the coun-
try, seventy-two market towns and villages were
washed away or engulfed. There were enor-
mous losses of property in cattle and goods.
Many families were reduced from wealth to
poverty, and some of the nobility almost to
beggary. Perhaps a hundred thousand people
were drowned, and the town of Dordrecht was
cut off from the mainland. It was an awful
sight to see the people climbing up into the
trees and upon the roofs of houses until great
crowds were found on the house-tops and
church-roofs. There, unable to assist their
friends, who were swept past and drowned in
the flood, they spent hours or days of agony,
only to starve, or be themselves hurled into
the waters through the undermining and giv-
ing way of the houses. To-day, in the gloomy
and lonely " forest of reeds," called the Bies-
bosch, which makes a great scar on the map,
one can see the network of water-courses and
mud which has taken the place of a once rich
and fertile region.

105

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

The dynasty of Bavaria (Het Huis van Bei-
jeren), — three counts and one countess, — end-
ing with Jacqueline, had ruled Holland during
seventy-nine years, from 1349 to 1429 a. d.

106

CHAPTER XII

THE HOUSE OF BURGUNDY

Burgundy, a fertile region, rich in wine, took
its name from the Burgundu, a German tribe.
It was founded in 406, and then included
the valley of the river Rhone in Southern
France and the western half of Switzerland,
but changed its boundaries, rulers, and politi-
cal status several times. In the fifteenth cen-
tury it was a duchy, and Philip was its duke.
Holland now came under his rule, and, through
that of his successors, the Netherlanders were
ruled by Spaniards and Austrians.

Philip of Burgundy, who was called " the
Good," but who was a very bad man, married
Isabella of Portugal, and the wedding was
celebrated at Bruges, in January, 1430. With
all his great territory, though only a duke, and
not a king, he was now the equal in power of
many sovereigns of Europe, while richer than
any of them, and his court had no superior in
splendor and brilliancy.

Philip founded the order of the Knights
107

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

of the Golden Fleece. These were at first
twenty-four, but the number was afterwards
increased to fifty-one. The first meeting, or
chapter, was held in 143 1, when the festivities
lasted three days. Each knight wore a long
robe, first of purple woolen cloth, but after-
wards of silk velvet. His insignia was a golden
collar, holding a lamb with a golden fleece,
with two laurel bows, and the duke's S3niibol
of flint and steel striking fire.

Philip's rule was long and brilliant. Com-
merce increased and art and literature flour-
ished. Yet Philip was a very extravagant
ruler, and no friend of liberty. Whereas
Jacqueline had studied the needs of her peo-
ple and gave them all the freedom then possi-
ble, Philip went in the other direction. He
not only took away many of their charters and
gave them fewer privileges, but he made his
own selfish will the law. He went to war with
England, when the Dutch had no desire to
do so.

Besides this wicked strife, there was trouble
with the Baltic, towns, so that the usual supply
of grain was not obtained and the price of rye
rose. The poor people, not being able to get
bread, had to eat beans, rape, and hemp seed.
The crops, also, were very poor. Yet while

108

THE HOUSE OF BURGUNDY

the country was in this condition, their foreign
ruler, the duke of Burgundy, called for fresh
taxes.

The usual symptoms of bad government
began to appear. The quarrels between the
Cods and the Hooks broke out afresh. In
Haarlem, the two parties took up arms. Dur-
ing two days they glared at each other, ready
to fight, but bloodshed was prevented by a
priest walking up and down the ranks, carry-
ing the host. Philip sent his wife Isabella to
quiet the rioters, and once inside the city she
persuaded the Hooks to withdraw. The next
troubles were in the town of Leyden, when
the streets and bridges in the city became
the scenes of bloodshed. Finally the duke
of Burgundy himself came to Holland and
ordered that the partisans should no more call
each other names, or sing songs in ridicule of
their rivals. He also prohibited the wearing
of uniforms or marks, the putting on of the
white or the blue hoods, the enlistment of new
burgher guards, and the carrying of swords
or other weapons or armor. If a man was
killed in a quarrel, it was ordered that six
weeks should be allowed the friends on both
sides to settle the matter.

Thus Philip secured peace, but no sooner
109

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

had he done this than he took unfair advan-
tage by laying on heavier taxes. He also
tried to reform the Church, which at this time
was terribly corrupt and full of superstition.
There were some hopes for reform, because the
teachings of Wycliffe of England, John Huss,
and Jerome of Prague had already spread
throughout the Netherlands. The translation
of the Bible, though poorly done, helped the
Dutch people to read the Scriptures, and see
how widely the wicked priests and church
rulers departed from the simplicity of early
Christian times.

The duke was so lavish and wasteful with
his feasts, tiltings, and shows, his personal
gratification and his gifts to favorites, that his
treasury was often empty and he had to lay
fresh taxes upon the Netherlanders. Unable
to bear the galling load, they rose in rebellion,
the men of Ghent leading the revolt. Sev-
eral battles were fought, but the citizens were
beaten. Those who were not killed were
obliged to come out bareheaded and bare-
footed and, on their knees, to beg for pardon.
About two thousand Ghenters thus knelt.
The banners of the guilds were taken away,
and they were obliged to pay the expenses of
the war as well as the taxes.

THE HOUSE OF BURGUNDY

Philip's son, Charles the Bold, a terrible
fighter, was made stadholder of Zeeland, where
he ruled the people with a rod of iron. Philip
attempted to regain his authority in Friesland,
and largely succeeded. Getting into war with
France, his son, Charles the Bold, marched to
the very gates of Paris and further chastised
the Netherlandish allies of the French. In
this war the men of Holland probably took no
part, but they had to pay heavy taxes to help
in settling the count's war bills.

Philip the First died in Bruges, in 1467,
at seventy-two years of age, and his long rule
was over. He has the reputation of being
humane and just. He loved peace and made
many treaties with foreign nations, by which
the people of his large dominions profited
greatly, so that though they were heavily
taxed, they could, in most cases, easily pay.
It is even said that Philip received more
money from his subjects than they had paid
in four centuries together before.

At this time the Dutch had learned to make
salt and to refine it better than any people in
Europe. Besides being fishermen, they were
highly skilled weavers and exported linen and
woolen cloth. They were also excellent jewel-
ers, and sold much gold and silver work and

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

many jewels in England. They had improved
in agriculture and the making of dikes. In-
stead of facing their dams or banks with bun-
dles of reeds, as in old times, they now began
to bolt together beams of wood, fill them with
earth and stone, and then front them with
heavy planks, so that they could resist both
the rush and the pounding of the sea waves.
In many places they defended the piers by
driving piles out in the water, so as to break
the first force of the billows.

The duke left at his death an immense for-
tune. It consisted of four hundred thousand
crowns of gold, and one hundred thousand
marks of silver, with pictures, jewels, and furni-
ture, supposed to be worth two millions more.
He was thus the richest ruler in Europe. His
bad example of wastefulness in festivals, shows,
entertainments, and personal adornment was
imitated by his nobles. Many of them were
ruined by their extravagance, and although
there was so much show and brilliancy, morals
were very bad. In Holland the continual quar-
rels of the Hooks and Cods brutalized manners
and kept up hatred and faction. Nevertheless,
the Burgundian era is looked upon as a bril-
liant one, because literature and the arts were
patronized and encouraged by Philip. It is

w
o

THE HOUSE OF BURGUNDY

believed that John van Eyck of Bruges in-
vented oil colors, and from his day painting
entered upon a new era. Historians began to
write, and printing came into use.

Nobody knows who invented movable, or,
as the Japanese say, " living," types. In Ger-
many, Gutenberg is supposed to have been
the inventor. In Haarlem, the statue of Cos-
ter stands near the great church. He holds in
his fingers a metal type. It is said that one
day, while walking in the woods among the
beautiful beech trees of Haarlem, he whittled
out some letters from bits of beech wood.
Wrapping these up to take home, he noticed
that the sap stained the paper, leaving impres-
sions of the letters. This gave him the idea
of printing. Others say that he invented a
thick glutinous ink, and, using these wooden
types in the same way as a seal is used to give
impressions, made little books for his nieces
and nephews.

Apart from all these uncertain stories, we
know that long before the time of either Guten-
berg or Coster, the Netherlands were famous
for their wood engravers, who made pictures of
saints and the Virgin. Underneath and around
the drawings, and in the block, they cut letters.
With these engraved blocks they printed tracts

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

and books for the pious, and many thousands
of leaves for the hornbooks which children
used in school. It is highly probable that
printing with living, or separate, types was
brought by the Mongols into Europe, from
China or Korea, where it had been for centu-
ries in use, and that Europeans improved upon
the lead or iron, wood, or terra-cotta type by
making an alloy of lead and antimony.

Besides their wood engravers, picture makers,
and printers, the Netherlands were famous for
their free schools for children. Holland was
one of the first countries in Europe to have
public schools ; that is, schools where the poor
children could learn to read and write free of
cost, and the burghers' sons and daughters be
educated for a small sum of money ; the sala-
ries of the teachers and the chief expenses
being paid out of the public treasury, by tax-
ation.

The first schools were taught by monks or
priests who, in the middle ages, were almost
the only people able to read and write. Among
the earliest were those founded by Charle-
magne, assisted by Alcuin, who revived learn-
ing in many countries.

Nearly all writings were in Latin ; for what
are now the modern languages were not then

114

THE HOUSE OF BURGUNDY

fully formed. If we had gone into the places
where books were made, we should have seen
the brethren busy over parchment, cutting it
into the right-sized sheets for documents or
for books. Then, with their quill-pens and
ink-horns, they would copy one text or writing
from another. When finished and bound with
covers of pig-skin or leather, the larger books
were held to desks by chains or rods. The
writing-place, where books were made, was
called a scriptorium, and the place in which
they were collected and kept together was the
library.

In the thirteenth century, the school system
broadened out from the church and monastery
in so far as to come in many places under the
control of the town governments. When the
Brethren of the Common Life began their
work in the fourteenth century, they spread
abroad still more widely the interest in popular
education.

"5

CHAPTER XIII

THE CHARTER OF THE GREAT PRIVILEGE

The new ruler, Charles the Bold, who was at
the head of the Burgundian domain, was a
very bold and strong man, but not very wise.
In Roman days he would have made a first-
class gladiator, in later times, a fierce crusader,
and among barbarians, a skillful chief. He
could fight, but he had little wisdom, and was
rightly called Charles the Rash. Being only
a duke, he wished to be a king, and raise his
dominion to the rank of a kingdom. He went
to England and married Margaret, sister of
Edward IV. of England, in 1468. Brave,
obstinate, and with a very bad temper, he was
also selfish and tyrannical, loving to fight and
shed blood. He followed his father in extrav-
agant living, and in helping to destroy the lib-
erties of the Netherlands. To get money for
his foolish ventures, he laid heavy taxes upon
the people, but they refused to bear any greater
burden. A bloody riot broke out in Hoorn,

116

CHARTER OF THE GREAT PRIVILEGE

which was put down with blood ; but the cloth
trade of the town was destroyed.

Charles the Bold was the first ruler in Eu-
rope to keep a standing army; that is, men
who made a business of war, and were soldiers
all the year round. In this army there were
different corps of warriors, and among them
one thousand archers from England, who were
the best in Europe. They used English yew
for their bows, and shot the cloth-yard shaft,
which few coats of mail could resist. With this
army, Charles entered upon numerous cam-
paigns and fought many battles, usually taking
part in person.. He waged war against Louis
XI. of France, and then had him seized at a
conference and taken prisoner to Liege. The
purpose of Charles was to conquer Lorraine,
Provence, Dauphiny, and Switzerland.

Charles the Bold was a bully and a ruffian
wearing a ducal crown. He hated and de-
spised the Swiss, but when he came to fight
them, he found that these people, though liv-
ing in a rocky country, loved freedom dearly
and could fight for it well. In fighting them,
he lost two battles and was slain at Nancy,
January 5, 1477.

No sooner was the death of the tyrant
known than the Dutch people determined to
117

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

get back their rights and charters. On the
other hand, Louis XI. of France tried to seize
Burgundy and to make Mary, the daughter of
Charles, marry his son. This gave the Dutch
people their great opportunity. In order to
meet the enemy and strengthen the country,
the council of nobles called a general assembly
of all the estates of the Netherlands to con-
sider the situation. This was the first regular
assembly of the States-General of the Nether-
lands. The result of this famous congress was
the issue in 1477 of the document called the
Great Privilege, which became really the foun-
dation of the Dutch Republic.

This Magna Charta of the Netherlands con-
firmed the ancient customs and ordered that
there should be no taxation without consent.
The Dutch language was always to be used,
no foreigners were to be placed in high office,
and no money was to be coined or its value
altered without vote of the States-General.
The duchess could not marry without con-
sent of the State and the great council, and the
supreme court of Holland was reestablished.
This was a grand and glorious day for the
Netherlands.

Short and sorrowful was the life of Mary of
Burgundy. The crafty old king of France
118

CHARTER OF THE GREAT PRIVILEGE

wished to marry his son the dauphin to her,
and also to get away some of her land. While
she herself was promising to keep faith with
the Netherlanders, she deceived them and told
the old king, through two of her envoys, that
she would not live up to the charter. When two
of these came back from France and showed
her duplicity, the Ghenters condemned the
envoys, Imbercourt and Hugonet, to death.

At this, Mary was in an agony of grief.
Dressing herself in mourning, with her girdle
loosened, her hair unbound, and her eyes
flooded with tears, she rushed with an old
priest into the crowd around the scaffold.
With screams of anguish, she begged that the
lives of the two men might be spared ; but in
vain. The Ghent men refused, and the heads
of the two envoys were taken off. Mary felt
that their blood was on her head. As the
French army was in motion to march against
the Dutch, it was felt that the Lady Mary
should be married as soon as possible. So she
had to choose quickly between her suitors,
Maximilian, the son of the emperor of Ger-
many, and the dauphin of France, who was
only eight years old, while she was twenty.
Love had little, politics all, to do with this
marriage. In August, 1477, Maximilian was
119

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

made her husband. Longfellow, in his poem
" The Belfry of Bruges," refers to the ceremony,
done first by proxy. The richest heiress in Eu-
rope was wedded, without much show, to one
of the poorest of princes. Indeed, the imperial
suitor was so short of money that the Nether-
landers had to pay his traveling expenses.

Unfortunately, in Holland the squabbles of
the Hooks and Cods dragged on, and the state
of affairs was most wretched. Families were
divided. Murders, duels, and riots took place
daily. Often one party drove the other en-
tirely out and away from the city. This went
on until Maximilian traveled into Holland,
and there saw that the municipal party was
the stronger, and favored the Cods. In one
case, the Cods from Leyden got into the city
of Dordrecht by hiding themselves in two
vessels supposed to be loaded with rice. The
burgomaster of Dordrecht, in his haste to
arm himself and fight the invaders, put a
copper pot on his head instead of a helmet.
There was more fun than blood that day.

Mary of Burgundy was not as pretty as
Jacqueline ; for she had the large, open mouth
of the Burgundian princes. Her temper was
hot, and in her habits she was not only bold,
but very much like a rough man. She was

1 20

CHARTER OF THE GREAT PRIVILEGE

very fond of gaming and hunting, and espe-
cially of hawking. One day while out in the
country, the saddle girth broke and she fell
from her horse. Concealing her injuries, she
became worse and died in the spring of 1482,
when only twenty-five years old. Her hus-
band, the widower Maximilian, was now an
Austrian archduke, and this, as we shall see,
meant to the Hollanders another change in
the succession of their rulers, from Burgundy
to Austria.

The dynasty of Burgundy (Het Huis van
Bourgondie), through two counts and two
countesses, ruled Holland for fifty years, from
1429 to 1482 A. D.

121

CHAPTER XIV

THE DUTCH UNDER THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA

Mary's oldest son, Philip, who succeeded his
mother, was but four years old. Again the
Netherlands had the misfortune of being
governed by a child. His father, Maximilian
of Austria, was acknowledged as guardian of
the baby count. This Austrian prince was
also elected king of the Romans, or head of the
Holy Roman Empire. When again he came
into the Netherlands, with German troops, he
was suspected of wishing to seize the whole
power for himself.

Alarmed at this idea, the citizens of Bruges
rushed together under the banners of their
guilds. They seized Maximilian and put him
in prison. This was the way the bold demo-
crats used to treat even an archduke who
aspired to be emperor, when he did not behave
himself. After four months, Maximilian was
released, on promising to rule justly and keep
his word. But as soon as he had a German
army to come to his aid, he broke the peace

122

DUTCH UNDER HOUSE OF AUSTRIA

and his promises. At once civil war broke
out.

The Hooks, who had been driven out of
Holland, once more returned and collected at
Sluys, under the command of Brederode, with
forty-eight ships and two thousand men. They
went up the river Maas and landed at Delfs-
haven. Their ships could not go further on
account of the frozen river, so they marched
to Rotterdam, and, rushing over the ice in the
castle moat, captured the city. Later on, they
had to yield to Maximilian's German army.
After a few battles, the Hooks were completely
defeated, and their career ended.

Yet there seemed no rest for the land. The
waste of the long civil wars and the heavy taxes
levied to pay for them caused riots, and there
broke out in 1492 the famous " Bread and
Cheese War," so called because it was carried
on by the lower classes of people, whose daily
food was bread and cheese. The seat of the
disturbances was mainly in North Holland.
The chief cause of the trouble was the Ruyter
Geld, or knight-money, which the people re-
fused to pay. Dividing themselves into troops
and companies, under banners on which were
painted loaves of bread and balls of cheese,
they marched about crying out for bread or
123

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

blood. Some of them even fastened rinds and
crusts to their clothes.

When the German troops entered the coun-
try to disperse the natives, these foreigners
lived off the country and made it still poorer.
Maximilian came into Haarlem and had a gal-
lows erected in the market-place to hang the
ringleaders of the " Bread and Cheese Play,"
as it was also called. After this the Frisians
and North Hollanders isubmitted and paid
heavy fines. At Alkmaar and other cities, the
local privileges were abolished, and the citizens
were compelled to level the walls at their own
expense. When the citizens of Amsterdam
asked that they might be allowed to build a
stone wall around their town, Maximilian sneer-
ingly answered that if they were not so fond
of war and quarrels, a silken thread wound
round the town would be sufficient.

Friesland came under the control of the
duke of Saxony. The country had been so
weakened by long wars that it easily yielded
to this ruler at the command of Maximilian.
At first the duke cared for his new possessions
and built dikes, which are still to be seen ; but
after ruling his dominion for seventeen years,
he sold Friesland to the house of Austria for
350,000 crowns. Thus we see that the last

124

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DUTCH UNDER HOUSE OF AUSTRIA

stronghold of freedom in the Netherlands,
through the folly of its own men, was broken
down. All parts of the country were now
under the control of Austria.

When Maximilian, the archduke of Austria,
became emperor of Germany, his son Philip,
count of Holland, now seventeen, took the
active government of the Netherlands. One of
his first acts was very beneficial to commerce,
for in 1496 the' Grand Treaty of commerce
was made between England and Holland.
This made trade much easier and more profit-
able. One clause in the compact was very
interesting. Before this time it had been the
custom of the Dutch, when a ship was wrecked
upon the shores, to seize it, and, if there was
no living being on board, to keep all the pro-
perty, vessel or cargo, but if a " man, woman,
child, dog, cat, or cock " was found alive, then
the owner or heirs could claim the property.
Now it was ordered that, in any event, the
property should be held for a year and a day,
to allow the lawful owners to claim it.

America was discovered in 1492, Columbus
having been helped by King Ferdinand and
Queen Isabella of Spain. Count Philip's sis-
ter Margaret, in April, 1496, married their son
John, who was heir to the Spanish throne, but
125

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

her husband died at the end of six months, and
she was left a widow.

In October, 1495, Philip, count of Holland,
had married Joanna, the daughter of Ferdi-
nand and Isabella of Spain, and in 1500 their
son was born in Ghent. He afterwards be-
came the great Charles the Fifth, emperor of
Germany and king of Spain, who did so much
for, as well as against, the Netherlands. It
seems very strange to think that while yet in
his cradle, this baby boy was engaged to be
married to Claude, daughter of Louis XII. of
France. In the game of European royal poli-
tics, the little princes and princesses were like
checkers on a board, with which politicians
made their moves and showed their craft.

Philip made a journey into Spain and also
into England, where a new treaty was made,
which the Dutch, not liking, called " the bad
treaty."

Philip was a profligate prince who had but
few abilities. He was handsome in person,
and was hence called Philip the Fair. He was
also given the nickname of "Croit Conseil,"
because he usually listened to men who flat-
tered him. He foolishly surrendered Fries-
land, and acted with even more foolishness
toward Gelderland ; and yet he was not so bad

126

DUTCH UNDER HOUSE OF AUSTRIA

as some of his predecessors. He was very
tenderly loved by his wife Joanna, who was
herself very homely in body and weak in mind.
Through her great jealousy of her husband,
who was not a pure man, she was subject to
fits of insanity. Philip died in 1506, when
only twenty-nine years old, through drinking
too much cold liquor when heated, after play-
ing tennis, a game that was a very popular one
in the middle ages. It was through Philip
that the houses of Austria and Spain were
united, and that the Netherlanders came under
the control of the Spaniards.

Charles was only six years old when his
father died. So his grandfather Maximilian
ordered Margaret, his aunt, the duchess of
Savoy, to take the government in her hands.
The regent was warmly welcomed at Dordrecht.
She did her duty as well as she knew how,
while her nephew was being educated in Flan-
ders. The future emperor had for his tutor
the learned Adrian of Utrecht, who afterwards
became the Pope of Rome and favored reform.

Charles, having been born in the Nether-
lands, had always a pleasant feeling for the
Dutch, and did much in the first years of his
reign to give the Netherlands unity and pros-
perity; but when his grandfather Ferdinand
127.

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

died, he became king of Spain, removed his
court to Madrid, and henceforth he had the
views and ideas of a Spaniard. In 15 19 he
was elected emperor of Germany against his
rival, Francis I. of France. These two men
were the most powerful sovereigns of Europe.
As both of them wished to rule over Italy, war
was declared between them. The English
became the allies of the Spaniards. Charles
married Isabella, daughter of the king of Portu-
gal, and war broke out again ; but peace was
made by the treaty at Cambrai in 1529.

It was under the house of Austria that the
old Dutch world of the middle ages passed
away, and the new and modern age was ushered
in. Philip the Fair, king of Castile, who died
in 1529, Charles V., emperor of Germany and
king of Spain, and his son Philip II. were in
this dynasty. During this period the Spaniards
held many of the chief offices. Spanish in-
fluences, as seen in speech, manners, customs,
literature, use of titles, and forms of letter-
writing, permeated the Netherlands, and it
seemed at one time as if Philip II. was attempt-
ing to turn the Netherlands into a sort of Spain
and to make Spaniards out of Dutchmen.
Why he failed, and why the Dutch revolted
and won independence, must now be shown.

128

CHAPTER XV

THE OLD WORLD BEFORE GUNPOWDER AND
PRINTING

The year 1530 found Charles troubled with
persons and ideas that were more terrible to
him than men and arms. Unfortunately for
him and for Spain, these new people could
think hard, which was more than most soldiers
in the middle ages ever did ; they could even
read and write, which was more than many sol-
diers then could possibly do. These terrors of
the emperor and Pope were the monk Martin
Luther, the Bible put in the language of the
people, and the Anabaptists. In a word, the
Reformation was beginning to make a new
Europe, and Charles and the Pope and the
priest could not understand what was coming.
Indeed the old world, in which kings had
full power, and nobles cared little for the rights
of the people, was passing away. It was a
strange world, as it now seems to us. We,
who live in an age in which conscience is free,
and when men elect their own rulers, can
129

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

hardly understand that such a world ever ex-
isted. The king expected not only to rule
the people, but to regulate their religion also,
and whoever was lord of a country could say
what the creed should be. Many things had
come down from feudalism, and government
was thought to be for the benefit of the gov-
ernors, instead of the governed. The great
majority of the inhabitants of Europe were
very poor, while many of the nobles were very
rich.

The mass of the people had no family
names, but only personal names. Some of
them received names also from the trades
which they followed. If they were long or
short in body, tall or dwarfed, or had a big or
a small nose, or something noticeable about
the lips or ears, or hair or eyes, they would be
called after this peculiarity. Or if they were
brilliant or stupid, pious or profane, one of
these adjectives would be placed after their
name. Many were known from their birth-
place, while others added the word " son " to
the Christian name of their father or ancestors.
The noblemen were called after their estates,
as Egmond, Brederode, Hoorn, etc. There
were many varieties of John and William,
Mary and Jane. Thus we have in English
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BEFORE GUNPOWDER AND PRINTING

not only William or Will ; but Wilkins, Little
Will ; Wilson or Williamson, son of Will or
William. In Netherlandish history, we have
adjectives like " fat," " short," or " simple." The
term "clerkly" meant that the man so named
could write well. Thousands designated them-
selves by their baptismal names with the prefix
"van" or "ten." Thus Jan Ten Eyck means
John who lived by the oak; Jan Ten Brink,
John who lived near the brink ; Van der Poel,
or Van Buren, Van Antwerp, Van Aarsdale,
etc., mean that they were from or lived in or
near Antwerp, etc. In Friesland, there were
three very common name-endings, "ma," "ga,"
and "stra," meaning place, ownership, or trade.
In Germany, the connective "von" can be used
only by a nobleman ; but the Dutch are more
democratic, and any one can use the prefix
" van."

In this old world of the middle ages, the
Pope had political power. He ruled over
kings, lords, lands, and consciences. The
Church was above the State, so that the Pope
could hinder people from being married or
buried. The priest had great power also ; for
the people were very much afraid of him, ter-
ribly so, indeed. They feared, because they
were ignorant. The knight, locked up in

131

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

steel, rode on an armored horse, so that with
his sword and spear he could charge into and
overthrow crowds of poorly armed peasants, or
overcome foot soldiers, even when well drilled
and equipped. So also the priest and monk had
fierce weapons which overawed the conscience
of the ignorant people. As the knights were
clad in armor of iron, so the priests were cased
in armor of learning, which scared the poor
people almost as much as the bell, book, and
candle of the bishop. In addition to this, the
man under the mitre could frighten even the
mailed knight ; for he could threaten him with
punishment, not only in this world but in the
world to come.

But there were two inventions, both of them,
perhaps, brought out of Asia, which overthrew
the old world and brought in the new. They
made both priest and knight take off their
armor and stand up in fair fight. The mix-
ture of sulphur, charcoal, and saltpetre called
gunpowder had long been known in China
for firecrackers, but in Europe this compound
was first used for cannon, and then for guns
and pistols. Its first use in the Netherlands
was in 1350. At first the bullets shot by the
clumsy guns called blunderbusses could not,
when fired at long range, pierce armor, but

132

BEFORE GUNPOWDER AND PRINTING

soon the gun barrels and the powder were so
improved that no metallic suit that a man
could wear, even on horseback, was proof
against a leaden ball. This meant that knights
were no better than foot soldiers in battle.

To wear heavy armor and wield a long spear
or battle axe, a man must be very strong and
brave. But, when a plain man, who need not
be tall or strong, but might be very short and
weak, and not very brave, could kill a knight
long before he could get near to use his sword
or spear, then the fashion of war changed. A
common soldier with a gun was not afraid of
a knight, no matter how big or strong, or
handsomely mounted or armed, he might be.
Hence, from this cause and others, the knights
ceased to be of as much importance as soldiers,
and armor gradually became a picturesque
ornament rather than a necessity, and by and
by only a curiosity. To-day armor belongs,
with old spinning wheels, among the antiques,
as bricabrac and parlor decorations.

In the world of mind, the new inventions
that helped to kill the power of the Pope and
the priest, and to reduce the knight and baron
to harmless gentlemen, were the printing press
and types. For centuries, the Chinese had
used printing by means of carved boards, and

133

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

they and the Koreans had also separate, or
movable, tv'pes. How printing with this kind
of type began in Europe, nobody knows, but
in several countries printers began to use t3'pe
at about the same time. Among the first
things printed were playing cards and a famous
book called " The Mirror of Human Salva-
tion," which gave in outline the contents of
the Bible and the story of the Christian Church.
In the Netherlands, there were hundreds of
printing offices, so that books and Bibles be-
came cheap.

In the old days of writing and copying, a
large book was equal to a fortune. Even to
buy a little one, that would now cost from
a penny to ten cents, might require the wages
of a workingman for a whole year. When it
became possible to buy a New Testament for
only a few days' wages, it seemed to the com-
mon people like a miracle. As some people
explain everything new or strange by the
devil's help, so they thought that Satan was at
the bottom of this new wonder.

Thus the monopoly of the monks and priests
was broken. Soon printing in the Nether-
lands got to be a business in which any one
could work and make money, for there was no
tax or hindrance. In some of the countries,

134

BEFORE GUNPOWDER AND PRINTING

as in England, printing was like coinage; it
was allowed only to a few persons and was
under control of the crown. In the Nether-
lands, and especially in Holland, it was free,
so that books soon became very plentiful and
quite cheap. Before ever there was a Bible
printed in England, there had been many
editions, both of the New Testament and of
the whole Bible, printed in Holland, and plain
people were reading it in their homes.

The Bible is a very dangerous book to get
into the hands of people who are ruled by
wicked kings, or rulers, or servants of any
sort, whether bad priests or bad parsons. For,
often not knowing any better, the people have
no true idea of freedom. They imagine that
the king and the priests have some rights from
God Almighty which the people do not have.
They are taught that their rulers in Church
and State can do no wrong.

But as soon as they begin to read the Bible,
which cares nothing for wicked people, even
though they are kings and priests, but which
shows how God punishes the wicked of every
class, they begin to want better government
and to believe that they can get it. They find
by reading Old Testament history that the
kings of Israel were often foolish and wicked,

135

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

and they learn that kings may be no better
than other men. The Bible shows that the
first government of Israel was that of a repub-
lic, and that the first Christian churches were
democratic in form. All this is very hurtful
to the claims of nobles and tyrants, whether in
Church or State.

It is no wonder that at first the ruling classes
tried to stop the translation of the Bible into
the language of the people, so that they could
read it for themselves. Through King Henry
VIII. of England, Tyndale, who put the Bible
into our English tongue, was garroted as a
felon, at Vilvoorde, by the Spanish authori-
ties in the Netherlands. In other places the
scholars who translated the Bible into Spanish,
French, Italian, or Dutch were thrown into
prison or put to death. Nevertheless, after
Erasmus the Dutchman had gathered the old
Greek manuscripts together and, in 1 5 1 6, made
a fresh text, translating the New Testament
into elegant Latin, it became very easy for
learned men everywhere to turn this into the
various languages of Europe.

When the common people read that in
Christ, God's children are kings and priests
unto God, they believed just what they read.
They did not know enough to explain it away,

136

BEFORE GUNPOWDER AND PRINTING

as did the gentlemen who wore crowns and
dressed in silk and velvet, and drank wine and
dined on rich food, when millions were sweat-
ing at toil, and often starving. The Bible is a
wonderful library of history. When men read
in its books how wicked the kings of Israel
were, some of them made up their minds that
government by the people could not be worse
than government by kings. So they formed
churches. They also tried to form societies
where war and oaths and state religion would
no longer exist. In a word, they tried to have
many things which the Constitution of the
United States of America secures. They
hoped to be very much what American Chris-
tians have a right to be at the present time.

Most of these people were very quiet, orderly,
devout, and industrious. Their ideas spread
into other countries, especially into Germany
and the Netherlands. These people called
themselves " Brethren," but their enemies called
them " Anabaptists."

In that great movement of the human mind
which is called the Reformation, Luther in
Germany, Zwingli in Switzerland, and Calvin
in France were leaders ; but among the very
first was Erasmus, born in Rotterdam, and a
true Dutchman. To-day his statue stands in

137

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

his native city, and little children, according to
their nurses' funny story, watch it at the strik-
ing of the clock to see if the man in bronze
turns a leaf of his bronze book, while the birds
twitter around and alight on his shoulders.

Yet, being a literary man, Erasmus suffered
the fate of such cultured men. The fierce
bigots who were to be found in every party,
hated him ; for he was too liberal for any of
them. Erasmus did a very wonderful work in
opening the Bible to all. It was like sum-
moning the dead to life ; for Greek to most
scholars then, and Latin to the majority of
European people, was little more than a cofiSn.

To this day the Dutch scholarly mind has
been very much like that of Erasmus; that
is, loving learning and always open to light,
whether old or new, cool in temper and judg-
ment, and not often running to extremes of
opinion.

Silently, quietly, but faster than priest or in-
quisitor could note, the " Brethren," with their
open Bibles, poured into the Netherlands, and
the first martyrs in Holland, as in England,
burnt to death for their faith, were Anabaptists.
Then followed the Lutherans, and finally the
Calvinists. Thus, on three great waves of
thought and feeling, the old world of religion

138

BEFORE GUNPOWDER AND PRINTING

passed away and the new one came in.
While Germany became Lutheran, the Nether-
landers for the most part were of the Reformed,
or Calvinistic, form of faith.

It must never be forgotten that for a long
time, even after the Reformation had begun,
all the great churches of Europe were politi-
cal ; that is, they were united with the State.
The " Brethren " first, and then the " Sepa-
ratists," or Pilgrim Fathers, who found refuge
in Holland, taught that Church and State
■should be separated. Ultimately, Amsterdam,
which sheltered Jews and Christians of every
creed, became the richest, as it was the most
orderly city in northern Europe.

139

CHAPTER XVI

THE SEVENTEEN STATES UNDER ONE HEAD

While king of Spain and emperor of Ger-
many, Charles was also duke, count, or marquis
of every one of the seventeen Netherland
provinces, in each of which he appointed a
stadholder ; that is, a lieutenant, or lieutenant-
governor, who held power for the king, and
governed in his name. We shall meet with
this term and title in Dutch history for cen-
turies to come. It is often wrongly spelled
stadiholder, as if this word meant the ruler of
a city. The word means simply lieutenant,
stead, or place-holder — one who rules in the
stead of the king.

By Charles V. becoming ruler of the Nether-
lands, the whole seventeen provinces were, in
1543, united under one ruler. On the lion flag
of the Dutch, and the coat-of-arms of William
of Orange, one still sees seventeen dots or ob-
long marks. These represent turf bricks, and
thus the soil of the country. By giving the
Netherlands a separate government of their
140

SEVENTEEN STATES UNDER ONE HEAD

own, and thereby the possibility of being more
independent, Charles enabled them to enter
upon a career of greater prosperity.

Charles V., emperor of Germany, was one
of the ablest, as he was the most powerful
of the monarchs of the sixteenth century ; but
he found that the new ideas and inventions
were making a new kind of people to be .ruled
over. He had various wars to conduct in
France and Italy. After these, he fought
against the Reformed Protestant princes ; but
he was beaten, and had to make the treaty of
Passau in 1552, by which religious liberty was
secured to the German Protestants.

Charles issued edicts against the Christians
of the Netherlands who read the Bible for them-
selves, and he introduced the Spanish Inquisi-
tion ; so that many people were put to death
because they believed differently from what
they had been taught by the priests and monks.
He prohibited the printing of books and the
opening of schools, except under approval of
the bishops ; and thus good people were put
to death for doing what Americans do every
day of their lives. He drove out of Holland
the Jews who had fled from Portugal, and ap-
pointed a Grand Inquisitor, whose business it
was to search out heretics and confiscate their
141

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

property. In 1555, having tired of his wars,
and perhaps foreseeing that Luther and Calvin
would be too much for him, he resolved to give
up his throne in favor of his son Philip.

The Netherlanders were very sorry to lose
Charles as their active ruler. During thirty-
seven years their governesses, Margaret of
Savoy, the aunt of Charles, from 1507 to 1530,
and Mary of Hungary, his sister, from 1531 to
1555, had been very fair in their rule over them,
and they were well accustomed to it. Philip,
on the other hand, was the very reverse of his
aunt and sister, in both manner and method.
He was a harsh ruler, a terrible bigot, and was
utterly ignorant of the language of the coun-
try which he was to govern. So in fear the
Netherlanders waited to see what kind of a
man their new master would prove himself
to be.

It was on the 25th of October, 1555, that
the great ceremony of abdication was held in
Brussels. The imperial officers, the Knights
of the Golden Fleece, the deputies of all the
states of the Netherlands, and the nobles in
their splendid dresses were present in impos-
ing numbers. Charles the emperor leaned,
while reading his address, upon the shoulder of
William of Orange, a handsome young noble-

142

SEVENTEEN STATES UNDER ONE HEAD

man. After this, Philip bent upon one knee and
asked his father's blessing. Then the bishop
of Arras spoke in French in behalf of Philip, and
the governess Mary took leave of the emperor
in a modest and pleasant address.

Philip, son of Charles, was now count of
Holland and king of Spain. He went to Eng-
land and married the princess, generally known
as " Bloody Mary," and prevailed upon her and
the government of England to declare war
against France. He assembled in the Nether-
lands an army of nearly fifty thousand men,
twelve thousand of whom were cavalry. The
French army was in Italy, so Philip, in 1558,
quickly laid siege to the town of St. Quentin.
Here he was reenforced by three thousand Eng-
lish soldiers. The French constable, Mont-
morency, marched with his army to help the
garrison, and a battle ensued outside the city.
Count Egmont, who was in command of the
splendid Dutch cavalry, attacked the enemy
in flank, and the French were defeated. Many
noblemen of France were killed, and all the
artillery and baggage and thousands of pris-
oners were taken. Egmont became the hero
of the hour and the idol of the army. An-
other battle was fought at Gravelines. There,
Egmont again, by his boldness of attack, won
H3

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

great glory. The ten English vessels that had
arrived in good season also helped to decide
the victory.

To the surprise of the Netherlanders, the
war came suddenly to an end by the treaty of
Cambrai. The Dutch were not happy at this,
and thought things were going too fast. They
believed that Granvelle, bishop of Arras, had
persuaded the Spanish and French kings to
bury political quarrels, in order to unite their
forces and begin a religious war to put down
the Huguenots in France and the Calvinists in
the Netherlands.

Their suspicions were soon confirmed ; for
the French king let out the secret. William
of Orange had been sent by Philip, as one of
his hostages, to remain with the king of France.
One day while out hunting, the king, suppos-
ing that, as a matter of course, William knew
all about the reason why peace had been so
quickly made, told him that it was the royal
purpose to put all the heretics to death. In-
stead of showing great surprise, talking about
it, or asking further questions, the young noble-
man kept perfectly quiet. On account of this
episode, although he was a very genial and
social man, and was able to talk in several
languages, he was called by some William the

1+4

SEVENTEEN STATES UNDER ONE HEAD

Silent, though the name has been used chiefly
since his death.

When the startled Dutchmen learned that
King Philip had asked the Pope to have four-
teen new bishoprics erected in the Netherlands,
their worst fears were realized. This meant
that fourteen new rulers, with great political
power, who could put men in prison, and even
torture and kill them, because they might hold
different opinions from Philip and the Pope,
would be appointed. Furthermore, the large
salaries of the bishops, and those of their
hangers-on, would have to be paid out of the
pockets of the people, as well as from the funds
of the abbeys. Neither the parish priests nor
the nobles liked the new movement, while the
people felt certain that the whole thing was
meant to increase the power of the Inquisition,
which had already caused the death of many
innocent people. The Dutch were further
angered because Philip had Spanish nobles
about him, who looked with contempt upon
natives of the Netherlands. When they heard
that to the Spanish soldiers already in the
country were to be added four thousand more,
the Netherlanders were in real alarm.

As King Philip would soon sail for Spain,
the people were very anxious to know who
145

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

would be the king's regent, to rule them in his
absence. Among the nobles two young men
were prominent : one was Count Egmont, very
handsome and popular, and the soldier's ideal ;
the other was William of Orange, wiser and
with far greater abilities as a civil ruler. Eg-
mont was very ambitious, universally admired
and beloved, full of eagerness and enthusiasm,
but easily discouraged by difficulties and ob-
stacles. He was very hasty in temper and was
easily made angry, though usually of a joyous
and sociable disposition. He was a genuine
Dutchman; for his ancestors had lived in North
Holland even before that country had received
its name. He was twelve years older than the
prince of Orange, and more skilled as a soldier,
but not equal to him in education, natural
talent, or shrewdness. His temperament was
more like the southern than the northern
Netherlanders.

146

CHAPTER XVII

ORANGE AND THE BEGGARS

William of Orange was at this time, in 1559,
twenty-six years old. He had begun, at the
age of fifteen, to serve in court as the page of
Charles V. He was so trusted by the emperor,
who had a high opinion of the youth, that he
was allowed to have part in all the secret affairs
of state, Charles himself often taking hints and
suggestions from the young man, besides giv-
ing him most important offices and sending
him on diplomatic missions.

William was a student of men, though he
knew books well, also. Very few people read
his thoughts. He was never thrown off his
guard, nor did he permit to leak out what he
wished to keep to himself. Without flatter-
ing any one, he was polite to all. He made
warm friends and kept them. Being a wealthy
prince, he was very hospitable, and by being
so he gained many helpers and won the good
will of the people. Instead of being rosy and

147

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

plump like Egmont, William was pale and thin,
showing the student and the thinker.

He had one of the best of mothers, Juliana
of Stolberg, whose chief ambition was to have
her sons brave, pure, devout, godly, and kind
to their fellow men. Juliana was noted for her
simple and unaffected piety. She was one of
the great women of the sixteenth century.
She had many children and scores of grand-
children. On his father's side, William was de-
scended from the ancient and powerful family
of Nassau, one of whom had been emperor.
At this time, and indeed since his cousin
Rene had died in 1544, William was prince
of Orange in his own right.

Besides these two eminent men, there was
Christian, the niece of Charles V., whose daugh-
ter William of Orange expected to marry. But
Philip, instead of choosing either of the three,
Egmont, William, or. Christian, summoned his
half-sister Margaret, the duchess of Parma,
from Italy, to be his regent in the Nether-
lands. He conducted her with great magnifi-
cence to Ghent, where the States-General was
assembled. In making his farewell speech,
Philip disgusted and alarmed his hearers by
urging that the heretics should be persecuted,
saying also that the Spanish troops were to be

14S

ORANGE AND THE BEGGARS

kept in the country. When the Netherlanders
petitioned the king to take away the foreign
soldiery and keep foreigners out of office,
Philip was very angry, yet he pretended not
to be displeased. Nevertheless, in his heart
he boiled with wrath against Orange, Egmont,
and Hoorn, whom he had appointed to com-
mand the troops. A few weeks later, in 1559,
after having visited Rotterdam and The Hague,
he was about to take ship at Flushing to go to
Spain. When William of Orange came to bid
him good-by, Philip reproached him angrily
for acting contrary to the royal wishes. When
William humbly replied that it was the act
of the states, Philip shook William's wrist vio-
lently and said, " Not the states, but you, you,
you ! "

Nominally the new ruler was the strong and
ambitious regent Margaret, an expert horse-
woman and a hunter, tall, and with much black
hair upon her lips and chin, which made her
look like a man. The real ruler of the coun-
try, however, was Granvelle, the bishop of
Arras, who had control of her conscience. He
was a Jesuit, and a pupil of Loyola of Spain.
For the government of the Netherlands there
was, besides the regent Margaret, a privy
council, a council of finance, and a council of

149

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

state, and in each province, except Brabant, in
which the governess herself lived, the king
had a stadholder, or lieutenant. The prince
of Orange was made stadholder of the three
provinces of Holland, Zeeland, and Utrecht.
Egmont was placed over Flanders.

Granvelle was a man of mighty power, both
in mind and body. He spoke seven lan-
guages, could toil through twenty hours of the
day, and keep several secretaries busy, all
working at the same time. His first act was
to publish the Pope's bull, making fourteen
new bishoprics, or eighteen in all, while he
himself, to the great disgust and dread of the
people, was made a cardinal. However, at the
earnest plea of Margaret, the Spanish soldiers
were recalled ; for the Dutch would not sup-
port them. Even the new bishops were re-
ceived with opposition and tumult. In some
towns the people vowed to put them to death,
if they came within their gates.

The unpopularity of Granvelle increased
day by day. William of Orange was very
bitter against him for preventing the mar-
riage which he had in view. Counts Hoorn
and Egmont had private causes of enmity
against the cardinal. These noblemen kept
away from the council of state and petitioned

150

ORANGE AND THE BEGGARS

the king that he might be removed from office.
In return, Granvelle heartily hated Orange
and Egmont, and sent daily reports to Philip
of what he saw was going on and what his
spies reported.

The nobles who disliked the cardinal called
him, in their conversation, " the red fellow."
This was in allusion to the scarlet color of his
hat and clothes. They named the house in
which he wrote his letters to the king, " the
smithy." They dressed their servants in dark
colored garments in order to show how nu-
merous they were, and on their sleeves they
had sewed a fool's cap as an irreverent allu-
sion to the cardinal's hat. When Margaret
remonstrated against this foolishness, they took
off the symbol of the hat and put in its place
a bundle of arrows, meaning that they were
united in the service of the king.

Meanwhile the printing presses sent forth
lampoons and caricatures against the cardinal.
One of these pictures represented him sitting
on a nest of eggs which hatched out bishops,
and over his head was Satan saying, " This is
my beloved son." At last, in 1564, the man
in red, fearing that he might be killed, left the
country for Burgundy. Like foolish school-
boys, the two nobles, Brederode and Hoog-
151

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

stratten, mounted one horse, the former taking
the saddle and the latter the crupper. Both
galloped in hilarious mockery after the cardinal
for many miles of his journey.

Then there was a change. The nobles be-
gan to attend the councils, the edicts of torture
became dead letters, and the people enjoyed
for a little while liberty of conscience. Still
there was much bribery and corruption in pub-
lic office. Many of the charges fell upon the
patriot party led by Orange.

It was finally decided that a messenger
should be sent to King Philip in Spain, to set
before him the many troubles of the country.
Count Egmont, handsome, frank, credulous,
and confiding, was sent to Spain, where he was
received with many honors. It was like a fly
entering the spider's parlor. All that Egmont
asked of the king was granted in fair words,
and the vain man went away loaded with
promises.

On coming back to the Netherlands, he
told his friends and the people that the king
would change the edicts and abolish the In-
quisition. It was supposed by all, except the
wise few, that everything was to be better ; but
when Philip's orders came, they were different
from anything that had been expected. The

152

ORANGE AND THE BEGGARS

edicts were republished, the Inquisition was to
be reestablished, and whoever believed dif-
ferently from the Pope's followers was to be
put to death ; but this was to be in secret, and
not publicly.

No sooner were these edicts republished
than the people and the nobles became vio-
lently angry. The walls of the towns were
covered with placards denouncing the Inquisi-
tion and the Spanish tyranny. Catholics and
Protestants were alike in this opposition.

In 1565 the nobles formed an alliance, or
" compromise," devoting their lives and pro-
perty to resist the Inquisition and to support
each other. They assembled together in Brus-
sels, on the 5th of April, 1566, to the number
of three or four hundred. They walked slowly
in procession four abreast to the hall of the
regent, led by Brederode and Count Louis of
Nassau, brother of William. Margaret received
them graciously. Then Brederode delivered an
address, denying the reports of their enemies,
asserting their loyalty to the king, and asking
that a messenger be sent to his majesty to tell
him that the provinces were being ruined by
the Inquisition.

In order not to stir up a crowd or create a
riot, the noblemen had put off their splendid
153

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

dresses of silk and velvet, and their gold and
silver ornaments, and without horses or arms
had come to court on foot. But Berlaymont,
one of the officers standing near the governess,
said to her, " Do not fear ; it is only a troop of
beggars."

When the nobles heard this, instead of being
angry, or trying to kill Berlaymont, they took
up the name as their own, and it became their
rallying cry. That night Brederode gave a
dinner at which were present about three hun-
dred noblemen, who caught up the words and
declared that it was no shame to be beggars
for their country's good. " Long live the Beg-
gars," was their cry. Slipping out of the room
for a few moments, Brederode came back bring-
ing with him a wooden bowl, such as the
begging monks and pilgrims usually carried.
Filling it with wine, he drank a health to " The
Beggars." Thereupon the wooden cup went
round, all drinking and shouting, " Vive les
gueux," or " Long live the Beggars."

From this time forth, not only the foes but
the friends of Dutch liberty took up the name.
Soon there were " noble " beggars, " wild " beg-
gars out in the country at large, " water "
beggars on the seas, and " mud " beggars who
walked beyond the town walls to hear " hedge

154

ORANGE AND THE BEGGARS

preaching." Indeed, all who hated Spanish
tyranny, whether Catholics or Protestants,
took up the cry and put on the symbol. They
dressed themselves in the beggar's costume, of
ashen gray cloth, and hung the little wooden
bowls or cups on their breasts or caps. The
plain people wore medals of lead, and the rich
folk and nobles the same design in gold or
silver, on which was engraved on one side the
image of Philip the king, and on the other a
beggar's wallet and two hands joined over it,
with the motto, " Faithful to the king — even
to bearing the beggar's sack."

155

CHAPTER XVIII

HEDGE PREACHING AND THE STORMING OF
IMAGES

The answer of Margaret the regent was not
satisfactory. The nobles did not like it. They
asked that their petition J^e printed, with-
out change, and that the inquisitors should
stop their bloody business. Two envoys, both
knights of the Golden Fleece, were sent to
Madrid to bear the nobles' petition to the king.

It was now time for the spider to eat up the
flies, and it did so.

The two envoys were kept in Spain and
never allowed to go back to the Netherlands.
The people called the moderation spoken of
in the king's answer, " murderation ; " for in-
stead of being burned alive, the people of the
Reformed faith, or printers of anything hostile
to the king, were to be hanged.

The reformers, hungering for the old truth
in the fresh forms in which the preachers pre-
sented it, now left the churches and towns by
the tens of thousands, to go out into the open

156

HEDGE PREACHING

fields. There they enjoyed, for hours at a time,
the singing of psalms in their native tongue,
and the sermons and prayers, that were not
written down, but came from the lips. Thou-
sands of little hymn books and portions of
Scripture were printed. At first the people
went without arms ; but at one place, where
there were seven thousand gathered together,
the " schout " rushed in among them on horse-
back, dashing toward the preacher with a mus-
ket in one hand and a sword in the other. The
people stoned him and he had to retreat.

The next time the crowd assembled the men
were armed. They made a " laager," or circle,
with their wagons, putting guards at the en-
trance, while a .few outside invited all passing
by to buy the forbidden books, or to go in and
hear the sermon. The pulpit was made of
planks on the top of a wagon. The women
and children sat near, and the men stood in a
circle back of them. Before and after the ser-
mon they sang psalms. After the benediction
they marched back in procession into the towns,
where they scattered. The singing was one
of the important, certainly one of the most
rousing parts of the service ; for the hymns
were in Dutch, or in French for those who
used that language. The verses of Marat, a
157

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

poet who wrote in French, were very popular.
Some of the old tunes then used, such as the
long metre doxology, are still sung in the
Dutch churches, and even in ours.

In the smaller towns and villages the people
used to gather for Bible reading, worship, or
singing, in shady places, and these meetings
were spoken of as " hedge preaching."

At Antwerp, five thousand people held their
services within a quarter of a mile of the city.
At this, Margaret was very angry, and wished
the burgher-guard to prevent the meeting, but
the worshipers were armed, and to oppose them
would have been folly. Soon throughout all
Holland public meetings were held outside
the city walls, whether the magistrates liked it
or not.

While King Philip was getting ready his
army, to march into the Netherlands to punish
the people with fire and sword, and his agents
were buying arms, ammunition, and warlike
stores, there was a sudden outburst of what is
called in Dutch history " the image storm."
The churches at this time were filled with
images, crosses, statues, pictures of the Virgin
and of the saints, gold and silver ornaments,
mass-books, superb cartings, stained glass, and
hundreds of other things which were never

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HEDGE PREACHING

seen in the early Christian churches. These
were suddenly despoiled and made empty by a
mob. There were no telegraphs in those days,
but with wonderful rapidity this movement of
destruction went on throughout the Nether-
lands. Bands of fanatics, very few in number,
but terrible in their earnestness and industry,
broke into the sacred edifices, and with ropes
and ladders, hammers and pincers, went to
work. They pulled down the pictures, images,
and statues, overthrew the altars, defaced the
monuments and carvings, tore up or burned
the mass-books, and smashed the stained glass.
About four hundred church buildings were
thus despoiled and filled with rubbish within a
few days. This was not the work of robbers
seeking booty, but of fanatics, who wished to
end forever a system which they had learned
to hate, because so closely associated with
tyranny. In acting thus, they believed, as their
persecutors also did, that they were doing God
service.

The effect of the news upon the regent and
the king was like red pepper to the eyes and
sparks upon gunpowder. Hating the Reformed
faith as bitterly as they did, and despising the
Netherlanders for their love of freedom, they
paid no attention to the petition of the Calvin-
159

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

ists and Lutherans, who had nothing to do with
the image-breaking, and who expressed their
regret at what had happened.

For the present, Margaret permitted the
hedge preaching to go on. She even allowed
some churches to be built in the towns ; but
the patriots were not deceived. They got hold
of letters from the regent, in which they learned
of the armies being raised to punish them, and
that Margaret was deceiving them with fair
promises. When they met together to talk
over the crisis, their opinions were different.
A minority wished to hire Germans, in case
of need, to reenforce their own troops, especially
when they found out that the king was levying
an army to invade their country. Some were
timid or would do nothing, while others took
the king's side. Egmont made up his quarrel
with Margaret, and was pacified. Hoorn re-
tired to his own house at Weert. William of
Orange went into Holland.

Margaret now thought she had broken up
the league of nobles; for about one third of
them had abandoned the patriot cause and
ranged themselves on her side, while the others
were scattered. She now threw off the mask,
enlarged the army, and began punishing all
who had taken part in the late disorder. The

1 60

HEDGE PREACHING

Reformed worship was forbidden. When, in
March, 1567, the people of Valenciennes, a
place long noted for its lace, refused to admit
her soldiers within their walls, she ordered the
town to be besieged. She now demanded that
all members of the council of state should take
oath to be faithful to the Roman Church, and
uphold her in her politics. Egmont and most
of the other nobles took the oath ; but Orange,
Brederode, Hoorn, and Hoogstraaten refused.

At this time the people of the Reformed
faith were divided in their councils. Anabap-
tists, Calvinists, and Lutherans often mistrusted
and even hated each other as bitterly as had
the various orders within the old Church. All
this strengthened the hands of Margaret and
the followers of the Pope.

Meanwhile, William, prince of Orange, who
was a shrewd politician, kept himself informed
of the secrets of the Spanish king ; for he paid
the clerk to the king's secretary in Madrid
three hundred crowns a year for sending him
copies of documents taken at night from his
royal master's pockets. Orange knew that he
must either conform to the king's orders or
escape to some other country. Egmont became
a hot royalist. Brederode retired to the town of
Vianen, and fortified it.
161

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

Some of the other confederated nobles were
attacked at Ostrawaal, near Antwerp, and
badly defeated. A force of three thousand
Protestants, who were marching to help their
fellow believers shut up in Valenciennes, was
routed and scattered. Then the city surren-
dered, after a siege of five months. Two hun-
dred of the people were brutally murdered in
cold blood.

The outlook was now very black ; for instead
of Philip's coming to show mercy, the merci-
less duke of Alva was rapidly advancing from
the south with an army of Spaniards and Ital-
ians. The time had come for Egmont and
Orange to part, one from the other, never more
to look upon each other's face. A popular
story declares that, in his haste. Orange's head
was uncovered. At their farewell meeting,
Egmont said, " Good-by, Prince without a hat ; "
and Orange replied, even more mournfully,
" Good-by, Count without a head."

At the Spanish council in Madrid, three
nobles pleaded for mercy and methods of wise
gentleness; but Granvelle the cardinal and
the duke of Alva urged a policy of fire and
blood. One side argued that the Netherland-
ers were quiet, serious people, who would yield
to kindness and reason. The others declared

162

HEDGE PREACHING

that Dutchmen were only "men of butter,"
able to raise hens and chickens, but that they
would not fight.

How strange that Philip could not know
that people who had for a thousand years been
battling against the sea were too brave and
earnest to be trifled with ; but he was too blind
a bigot to see anything very clearly beyond
what he had been educated to believe. He
was a typical Spaniard ; and his pride was the
cause of his ruin.

163

CHAPTER XIX

MARCH OF THE SPANIARDS FLIGHT OF THE

FLEMINGS

Now began the gathering and the march of
the Spanish army, numbering over ten thou-
sand men, and one of the finest that had been
seen in Europe since the days of the Roman
legions. This army, so handsomely equipped,
did not stand for freedom, but for oppression.
It represented all the elements of the old, the
mediaeval world, that was already passing away,
though nobles, soldiers, and priests could not
see it. Nor could these splendid warriors
dream that the sailors, peasants, merchants, and
men of the new world — the new world of the
printing press, the open Bible, and the free
school — were in the end to triumph.

The Spanish and Italian veterans believed
in the king and the holy corporation called the
Church, and in government for the sake of the
governors, instead of the governed ; and they
believed that God was on their side. To sup-
port Philip's army, even the clergy and inquisi-

164

MARCH OF THE SPANIARDS

tors contributed their money as if it were for a
crusade. Spanish noblemen, eager to kill here-
tics, and also to get rich off their spoil, came
with the army as volunteers. Over the moun-
tains of Italy, and down through Switzerland
and France, this splendid body of men marched.
They were mostly veterans, the officers in gold
inlaid armor, and the soldiers with hats of steel,
and armed with the finest weapons of keenest
temper. Large numbers among them were
equipped with firearms. When they reached
the Netherlands and joined the other troops,
the united forces were twenty thousand strong.
When the news was confirmed that this army
of chastisement had really begun its march, the
country seemed paralyzed. At once, from the
Belgian or southern Netherlands chiefly, began
a great exodus of the people to lands of refuge,
in order to escape death and loss of property.
Hundreds of thousands fled to England, Hol-
land, Germany, and Denmark. Nobles, mer-
chants, mechanics, peasants, and laborers were
mixed together in the great company that
turned their backs upon the homeland and set
their faces north, east, and west. On large ships
and small, and on fishing boats, they fled across
the channel, making in all, counting those of
earlier flight, a hundred thousand people, who
165

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

settled mostly in the southern and eastern
towns of England.

Many of these emigrants were, in reality, as
they called themselves, " beggars." These had
to be helped by the magistrates and the char-
ity of the people of the English, Dutch, and
German towns and cities. Most of them,
however, were thrifty. God-fearing, and Bible-
reading people, with enough money to main-
tain themselves and to start industries new to
the countries in which they began life afresh.
They enjoyed family worship and loved their
religion, considering conscience more than
life.

These Netherlanders so enriched England
with their new trades and " mysteries," that
Queen Elizabeth was only too glad to wel-
come them in her realm. In a great industrial
procession at Norwich, in which these " Flem-
ings " surprised the English with their wonder-
ful machines, inventions, and occupations, she
was present in great state. Indeed, these re-
fugees changed England from an agricultural
country that raised only sheep and wool, and
had little or no foreign commerce, into one
that soon, with manufactures and commerce,
led the world.

The Belgic Netherlands lost, during the
1 66

MARCH OF THE SPANIARDS

seventeen years, from 1567 to the capture of
Antwerp by Parma in 1585, a million people,
the most industrious and capable in the coun-
try; while the Spanish armies, often unpaid
and mutinous, were like seventeen-year locusts,
eating up the country. This was the begin-
ning of that " eighty years' war," during which
350,000 Spaniards or their mercenaries were
to find graves in the soil of the Netherlands.

Margaret had feared just what came to pass.
The Spanish army, she thought, would only
stir up fresh troubles and depopulate the coun-
try; so she begged her brother the king to
stop the march of the troops. Philip's only
reply was in ordering Alva to hasten his steps.
When Egmont came out to meet Alva, the
latter said, " Here comes the arch-heretic."
When the Dutch nobles, hoping by their cour-
tesy to soften the duke, congratulated him, he
said, " Welcome or not, it is all one. Here
I am."

Margaret, now very angry, asked her royal
brother that she might be dismissed. Alva
soon showed her what he had come for. He
garrisoned the towns and kept the keys of the
gates. He had Counts Hoorn and Egmont
and other nobles arrested, thrown into prison,
and their household effects and papers seized ;
167

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

but Hoogstraaten escaped. When Granvelle,
" the red fellow " in Madrid, heard that Alva
had seized the nobles, he asked whether they
had caught William the Silent. When they
told him no, he replied, " Ah, then, if he is not
in the nest, Alva has caught nothing."

The duke of Alva began to obtain, as far
as possible, the charters of the cities, and to
break both their seals and the king's promises.
The Pope had given permission to the king
of Spain to be rid of his oath, and to lie in-
stead of keeping his promises. Alva erected
what he called a Council of Troubles, but
which soon received the name from the peo-
ple of the Council of Blood. It was made up
of twelve members, with a Spaniard at the
head. In it was a judge named Hessels, who
was often asleep during the trials, but who
usually voted " To the gallows ! To the gal-
lows ! " It is not wonderful that, having hanged
so many others, Hessels himself was at last,
eleven years afterwards, hanged to a tree by
the people of Ghent.

Margaret soon after resigned and left the
country, and the duke of Alva became gov-
ernor-general. He had those who had worn
the Beggars' badges, or drunk their health, put
to death. He had rich people tried and their

i68

MARCH OF THE SPANIARDS

property seized, after which they were dragged
at the tail of a horse to the gallows and
hanged, while the poor were tortured and put
to death at once. It was common to find
trees loaded with corpses, and bodies burned,
mangled, and headless, or fastened to stakes.
Within a few weeks, hundreds of people were
put to death, Alva declaring that the king
would rather see the whole country a desert
than allow a single heretic to live in it. All
business was for a time stopped. Thousands
of the fugitive men enlisted in the army of the
Huguenots in France, while the " Wild Beg-
gars " in the woods of West Flanders, who
had to get food or starve, became a terror to
the country; but many of these were caught
and quickly put to death by Alva's soldiers.

Alva made war even on children. The son
of William the Silent, then a student at the
University of Louvain, was seized and sent to
Spain. The brothers William and Louis of
Nassau, and the nobles Brederode and Hoog-
straaten, were summoned to the court. Alva
fortified the frontier towns on the German as
well as on the French side, and began to com-
plete a strong citadel at Antwerp.

One hundred thousand people had in the
one year of 1 568 left the Netherlands to escape

169

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

the Inquisition and Alva. Many of these were
seafaring men from towns on .the coast. As
exiles from home, these ship captains, sailors,
and fishermen were not content to settle down
quietly, but longed to be on the waves again.
They quickly took to the sea to destroy Span-
ish commerce and revenge the death of those
whom Alva beheaded. At first freebooters
and pirates, they became in time the liberators
of their country. We shall soon hear of these
" Water Beggars," or " Beggars of the Sea."

It was about this time that the flag of the
Netherlands, the Dutch tri-color, took its rise.
These brave patriots looked to the prince of
Orange, the stadholder of Holland, as their
leader, and so they chose as their standard the
three principal colors on his coat of arms,
orange, white, and blue. At first the common
sailors did not know how to arrange them in
their proper order, and those who had charge
of the ship's flag would sometimes put the
blue or white topmost. Then the captain
would roar out, " Oranje boven," — the orange
color first, on top, or " Up with the orange."
Thus it came to pass that orange, white, and
blue became the national colors for a century
or more, and the cry " Oranje boven " con-
tinues to this day.

170

CHAPTER XX

THE BATTLE OF HEILIGERLEE

William of Orange, now feeling that there
was no hope of reconciliation with the king,
published, in 1568, in several languages, a de-
fense of his conduct, and reviewed the events
of the last few years. He then began to raise
an army. He declared that the penal edicts
had been enacted for the purpose of rooting
out the pure word and service of God.

On his banners were his own ancestral coat
of arms. It was rich in the colors orange,
white, and blue, and in lion emblems. One of
the four large quarterings bore seventeen turf-
brick marks, representing the seventeen pro-
vinces of the Netherlands. The smaller shield
overlapping the quarterings had on it the hunt-
ing-horns of his ancestor, a grandson of Charle-
magne. On the heart, and in the centre of all,
he set the cross of Geneva, the city of Calvin,
in token of his own faith founded on the Bible.
On another banner was the emblem of the
mother pelican in the nest, feeding her young

171

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

with blood from her own breast, with the
motto, Pro rege, pro lege, pro grege ; that is,
" For the king, for the law, for the common-
wealth." Still other banners were embroidered
with the emblem of the beggar's bowl and
sack. In those days there was scarcely any
idea of government without a king or prince
of some sort, and so, although Philip was the
chief enemy of the people, and William was
fighting against him, yet, since he was a ruler
undeposed, William's motto was Pro rege ; that
is, " For the king." He was fighting in Philip's
name, just as our fathers, before July 4, 1776,
fought the battle of Lexington and marched to
Bunker Hill in the name of King George HI.

William was slow and deliberate ; of his
four brothers, Henry was the youngest, Louis
was the most impulsive and hasty, Adolph was
the most eager, and John, the next oldest to
William, was the most statesmanlike.

Hastily gathering a few hundred soldiers,
Louis invaded Groningen. At a place called
Heiligerlee, and meaning the Holy Lea, or the
Holy Lion, he met the Spanish, Italian, and
German troops which Alva had sent to meet
him. The Spaniards had a battery of field
pieces which were named do, re, mi, fa, sol,
etc., after the notes in the musical scale.

172

THE BATTLE OF HEILIGERLEE

On May 23, 1568, the patriots pretending
to retreat, the Spanish soldiers gave hot pur-
suit, and Louis, thus luring the enemy into
swampy ground, won a great victory. Six
hundred of the enemy were slain and their
baggage and cannon captured, but alas! the
brave young Count Adolph was killed. Three
hundred years after this event, a monument
was erected on the spot to his memory. It
shows the angry lion of Holland and mother
Batavia holding a shield of defense over her
son.

When Alva heard the news of this victory
of the Beggars, he was infuriated. He im-
mediately ordered eighteen noblemen, then in
prison, to be brought forth into the horse mar-
ket at Brussels, where their heads were cut off.
The bodies of seven of them were left on the
highway to rot. Egmont and Hoorn were tried,
as it now seems in mockery, and were con-
demned to death. On June 5, 1568, they were
conducted by two thousand soldiers to the
scaffold in the same horse market at Brussels.
The people could hardly believe that two noble-
men of ancient families, who had served the
king so long and well, could be so cruelly put
to death. They gathered in such crowds that
Alva feared a rescue. The axemen severed

173

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

their heads. These were then stuck on iron
poles and exposed during two hours.

After the soldiers had gone away, thousands
rushed to the scaffold to dip their handker-
chiefs in the count's blood, to keep as memen-
toes, while many a stalwart man there vowed
not to cut his hair, nails, or beard, till the
blood of these martyrs was avenged. Indeed,
for years afterwards, the fierce fighting Beggars
were noted for the long hair on their faces
and heads. One man's beard grew down to his
feet and had to be carried on his shoulders.
While patriots swore vengeance, even Spanish
soldiers shed tears. To-day, in Brussels, two
marble statues of these unhappy men, set
over a fountain, commemorate Egmont and
Hoorn.

Having thus struck terror into the hearts of
all, Alva marched at the head of his own best
troops into Groningen. The soldiers of Count
Louis were mostly Germans who served only
for pay. He had no money for their wages,
and when Alva appeared, they mutinied, broke
ranks, and fled. In the battle which ensued
at Jemmingen, the Spaniards, led by Alva in
person, slaughtered thousands of them. From
the battle, or rather massacre, Louis escaped
only by leaping into the river Ems and swim-

174

THE BATTLE OF HEILIGERLEE

ming lustily. He reached the opposite shore,
nearly naked, and alone in a foreign land.

Yet without bating a jot of heart or hope,
Louis rallied his forces and moved on to join
his brother William in Germany, who had sold
his family plate and jewels to raise funds, and
had now over twelve thousand men and ten
pieces of artillery. They marched southward
against the duke of Alva, at Maastricht, where
were now over twenty-one thousand men in
waiting. Orange crossed the river Maas Oc-
tober 5, by night, under the light of the moon,
and camped on the opposite shore ; but Alva
would not fire a shot. He fought him, only
with the weapons of time, patience, and retreat.
These, strange to say, completely defeated the
prince of Orange. Alva garrisoned the towns
so that no one could help the patriot cause
with men, money, or food. He cut off all
William's supplies, knowing that he would
soon have his money spent and could not pay
his troops, who were Germans, and that these
mercenaries would mutiny.

The shrewd old Spanish veteran, who was
great in that he could conquer himself, was
right in his ideas. William was unable to get
further supplies, and, with an empty treasury,
he was obliged to disband his army at Stras-
175

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

burg. Alva, overjoyed at his bloodless vic-
tory, reared a bronze statue of himself in
Antwerp, made of the cannon which he had
captured from Louis at Jemmingen. He then
distributed his troops throughout the cities,
but Amsterdam was excused from quartering
a garrison, by paying two hundred thousand
guilders.

Alva, at the point of the sword, forced the
new bishops and the decrees of the Council of
Trent upon the people. He demanded from
each city its charter, but the great council of
Leyden refused to obey the order. There-
upon this city was marked for vengeance.
Meanwhile, the hanging, burning, and behead-
ing went on.

The Pope was so pleased with Alva's work
that he sent him a holy hat and sword. At
the same time he excommunicated Queen
Elizabeth, but this only inclined her to help
the Netherlanders. When, further, Elizabeth
seized the money found in some Spanish ships
at Southampton, Alva arrested the English
merchants in the Netherlands, and all trade
was stopped between the two countries for
nearly four years. Nevertheless, Alva had no
cash on hand to pay his troops and soon found
himself in deep trouble. He had promised,

176

THE BATTLE OF HEILIGERLEE

when he left Spain, that he would make a
stream of silver a yard deep flow into the
king's coffers. Knowing very little about busi-
ness matters, he levied a tax of ten per cent,
on all things bought and sold. This roused
first the hatred, and then the defiance of the
Dutch, to an uncontrollable degree. In Zee-
land and Holland especially, the feeling was
intense.

Paul Buys, pensionary of Leyden, went into
Germany. There he met the prince of Orange
and told him the state of affairs, how that the
whole people, without regard to their religious
opinions, were bitter against Alva and the new
tax. At once William saw his opportunity.
He determined to make use of the brave sailors,
so numerous in Zeeland and Holland. He
gave commissions to the privateers, who were
at once called the Water Beggars. These men
strapped across their breast, or fastened on
their hats, a silver crescent with the words,
" Better Turk than Papist." They also hoisted
the orange, white, and blue flag of freedom,
and put the arms of the prince on their ban-
ners. Prince William arranged also to receive
aid and gifts through his agents in the dif-
ferent towns, hoping soon to lead another
army. Before he could do anything, a great
177

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

flood of water rolled over part of the coun-
try, in November, 1570, breaking the dikes
and sweeping away houses, trees, cattle, and
human beings in one ruin. So nothing could
be done that year. Meanwhile, he gave com-
mand of his little navy to William Van der
Mark, of whom we shall hear again.

178

CHAPTER XXI

THE VICTORIES OF THE WATER BEGGARS

William of Orange had hard work to find
some place on the earth's surface where his
little navy would be welcome. The Water
Beggars were desperate men, led by Van der
Mark, one of many who had sworn not to cut
hair or beard till Egmont's death was avenged.
The Beggars of the Sea were not popular
anywhere; for they failed to be particular whose
vessels they seized. All the Dutch ports were
in control of the officers of Philip II., and the
kings of Denmark and Sweden would not
allow them to enter their harbors, so the
havens of England were the only ones in
which they could cast anchor. When Alva
heard of their being received by the English,
he sent word to Elizabeth not to welcome
pirates and rebels from the king of Spain's
dominions. So the English queen, who feared
a war with Spain, ordered the Beggars to quit
her dominion. Then the fleet, flaunting the
tri-color flag of freedom, was driven out to sea.
179

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

Nevertheless, this harsh treatment gave them
their opportunity, and an unexpected victory
on land.

These Sea Beggars, under William Van der
Mark and Treslong, moved out into the Eng-
lish Channel and the North Sea. They cap-
tured two ships under the Spanish flag almost
as soon as they started. They then sailed into
the Texel, and attacked the Spanish ships ly-
ing there, but a great storm came on and drove
them back. Unable to go north, they boldly
dashed into the river Maas April i, 1572, and
came to the town of Briel, from which the
garrison had gone to Utrecht to collect " the
tenth penny."

Briel was the seaport for trade and passen-
gers for England. The Beggars quickly seized
the place and hoisted the colors of Orange
on the lofty church tower, whence they could
be descried by the people for miles around.
Maddened by previous Spanish cruelties, they
smashed the images in the churches. After
hanging thirteen of the priests, they dressed
themselves in their splendid robes and strutted
about in mockery of their office.

This bold and brave exploit of the Water
Beggars at Briel sent a thrill of courage
throughout the country. Their example was

iSo

VICTORIES OF THE WATER BEGGARS

quickly followed. The towns of Veer, Hoorn,
and others defiantly raised the colors of the
prince of Orange.

The duke of Alva was in a rage when he
heard the news. The word "brill," or "briel,"
in Dutch, means a pair of spectacles, and the
funny men made a verse in rhyme, which peo-
ple sang on the streets. It ran as follows : —

" Op den eersten April
Vierloor Alva zyn brill ; "

or, as Motley puts it in English : —

" On April Fool's Day
Duke Alva's spectacles
Were stolen away,'' —

though the Dutch know nothing of an April
Fool's Day.

Alva had already punished the cities of
Utrecht and Brussels for not approving of his
policy. The first had refused to consent to
the tax of the tenth penny. When the citi-
zens appealed to the king, he, to vex them,
further ordered out the Spanish garrisons from
Leyden, Haarlem, Delft, and Briel, and quar-
tered them all in Utrecht. By doing this, he
gave the Beggars the chance which they im-
proved at Briel. Amsterdam was fined heavily
for not publishing Alva's tax decree. In Brus-
sels, the people shut their shops and refused

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

to do any business. The duke then prepared
seventy ladders and ropes, in order to hang
seventy of the principal shopkeepers before
their own doors on the next night. But when
the news of the capture of Briel came, Alva
saw his folly, and went no further in the matter.
Count Bossu, at Utrecht, went back, hoping to
recapture the town he had left.

He and his Spaniards took ship and came
down the river Maas to Briel, where the Beg-
gars had fortified themselves. At the right
time, when the enemy was in sight, one brave
fellow named Rochus Meeuwsen, holding an
axe, climbed out over the sluice gates, hacked
away the timbers, and opened the sluices, so
that the whole country was laid under water.
On account of this, the Spaniards could not
march along the road, but had to step in
single file along the top of the dike. Mean-
while the cannon from the city walls played
on them, and their vessels in the river were all
set on fire or captured. Finding the flood
rising higher and higher, Bossu's men, in much
lessened numbers, retreated by wading, swim-
ming, or groping through marshes, and got
back to Dordrecht very wet, very tired, and
very hungry. As maddened as wounded tigers,
they thirsted for any and all Dutchmen's blood.

182

VICTORIES OF THE WATER BEGGARS

Later obtaining ships and boats, they dropped
down the Maas to Rotterdam.

Bossu informed the city authorities that he
was on his way to The Hague, and wished to
pass peacefully through Rotterdam. After
promising to go through the city, marching
only one file of men at a time, the Spaniards
were admitted. Immediately breaking their
promise, they rushed through the streets,
slaughtering men, women, and children. They
behaved more like devils than human beings.
At one house, a clever woman saved the lives
of the people inside. She quickly killed a cat,
and shook or smeared its blood over the steps
and doorposts. The Spaniards, thinking that
the people in that house had been already
murdered, did not go in. Thus the inmates,
though long in terror while hiding in the
cellar, saved their lives. Ever afterwards, this
house was called the House of a Thousand
Fears. The hero of this Rotterdam episode
was Black John, who laid about with his ham-
mer and killed a number of Spaniards. To-
day, one reads on the street cars the name of
this local hero, Swarte Jan; for there is a street
named after him. The Spaniards left Rotter-
dam looking like a slaughter house and then
moved on to The Hague. On the eastern
183

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

gate of Holland's second city is inscribed the
date of this aw-ful episode, April 9, 1572.

A great river is like a door opening into a
country, and a seaport near its mouth is the
key which opens or shuts the door. Briel was
the key to the river Maas, and Alva had lost
it. He now determined to make sure of Flush-
ing, the key to the river Scheldt. He ordered
the citadel to be completed, and sent fifteen
hundred Spaniards to garrison the city. But
the people rose up in arms, and, getting help
from the Water Beggars and from England,
they drove out the Spaniards and hanged the
Italian engineer Pacheco, in revenge for the
death of Treslong's brother, whom Alva had
put to death in 1568. In the Flushing mu-
seum, we may still see the unfortunate man's
helmet preserved among the many curiosities
there.

Soon after this, a fleet of forty ships, with
twenty-five hundred soldiers on board and
many hundred barrels of money, arrived at
Flushing from Spain. Not knowing that the
city had been taken, all the Spaniards were
captured by the combined forces of the Flush-
ing men and the Water Beggars. Because
Alva had hanged his prisoners taken in battle,
the Dutchmen were determined to make him

1 84

VICTORIES OF THE WATER BEGGARS

fight more humanely, and so, in retaliation,
they threw their prisoners overboard.

Alva still expected to smother the Dutch-
men in their own smoke, but he had another
thorn in his side when the news came of a
great victory of the Beggars in the south —
the capture, on May 24, of Mons in Hainault,
by Louis of Nassau, who had obtained French
aid. Alva could hardly believe this news, be-
cause his spies had seen Louis only a few days
before playing tennis in Paris. He at once
called his troops out of Holland to recover
Mons, and this gave the Beggars or patriots
in Walcheren, the largest of the islands of
Zeeland, in which the cities of Flushing, Mid-
delburg, and Goes are situated, time to organ-
ize their forces.

By this time thousands of Englishmen, feel-
ing that the Dutch cause was theirs, and that
if little Holland went down before giant Spain
England would go next, began to stream over
into the Netherlands as volunteers. About two
hundred of them were already in Walcheren,
under Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Thomas
Morgan. In the north, the people of Enkhui-
zen raised the Orange banner under the leader-
ship of Sonoy. Other towns followed their
example. In South Holland, the little city
185

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

republics of Oudewater, Gouda, Delft, Leyden,
and Dordrecht hoisted the Orange colors. So
it came to pass that, within three months, the
only important town in Holland held, in 1572,
by the Spaniards was Amsterdam. In Fries-
land, the party of the Beggars was very strong.
Sneek, Bolsward, Franeker, and Dokkum joined
the patriots, and the Spanish garrisons in Sta-
voren and Leeuwarden were besieged by the
men under the orange, white, and blue flag.

All this compelled Alva to do what he
ought to have done months before ; that is, to
take off the taxes which the Dutch had not
voted, especially the odious " tenth penny."
The Dutch congress, made up of nobles and
delegates from a dozen cities, met at Dord-
recht, acknowledged the prince of Orange as
their stadholder, and voted plenty of money for
the support of the war against the Spaniards.
They were led by Philip Van Marnix de Alde-
gonde, of whom we shall hear more, who was a
great and good man, and who wrote the " Wil-
helmus Lied," the national hymn of Holland.
They also appointed William Van der Mark as
captain-general.

In the south, Alva sent first his son Don
Frederic, and then went himself, with a large
army, to capture Mons. William of Orange

186

VICTORIES OF THE WATER BEGGARS

marched from Germany to the same place, but
Alva was again very shrewd, and refused to
give Orange battle. While helpless in this
condition, " Father William " heard the awful
news of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, in
which nearly all the French Huguenot friends
of the Netherlands had perished at the hands
of assassins. After nearly fifteen thousand
cannon balls had been fired into the city of
Mons, Louis had to surrender, on September
25. He rose from a sick bed to offer his sword.
On his way back to Brussels, Alva allowed his
soldiers to rob and pillage Mechlin and other
cities.

William of Orange was obliged to retreat
again into Germany and dismiss his army ; for
his men were clamoring for their pay. They
even threatened to seize his body as security.
We shall see that until a regular army of native
Dutch patriots was formed, no progress was
made in field warfare ; for no dependence could
be placed upon mercenaries.

187

CHAPTER XXII

NAARDEN, HAARLEM, ALKMAAR, AND LEYDEN

The Beggars had not succeeded very well in
Zeeland. After failing to take Middelburg,
they, with their British and French allies, tried
to capture the pretty little city of Goes, in
which Jacqueline of Bavaria used to live, and
which was now held by the Spaniards.

Alva, being able to spare some of his best
men, sent three thousand of them, led by the
brave old Colonel Mondragon, — who lived to
be ninety-three years old, — across the water
into Walcheren, to help the garrison. In this
march, with only their heads above water, the
Spaniards performed one of the most daring ex-
ploits of the war. For lack of boats, they could
not cross over to the island in the ordinary
way ; but led by a skillful guide who knew of a
narrow, slippery path under water, these brave
fellows waded six miles. Putting their pro-
visions and ammunition on their heads, they
moved on, up to their necks in water.

During all the time of their passage, the
i88

NAARDEN, HAARLEM, ALKMAAR, LEYDEN

Water Beggars in their ships fired with can-
non and muskets, or killed their enemies with
oars or boat-hooks. Yet they could not stop
the determined Spaniards, who pressed on,
drove the besiegers into their ships, and held
not only Goes but most of Zeeland, though
Zierikzee and the island of Schouwen still
held out for the prince of Orange. To-day, in
Spain, the sword of Mondragon is used as a
lightning rod, and his descendants are honored
as those of the " Marquis of the Honorable
Passage."

In spite of all his failures in war, William of
Orange was beloved and trusted by the peo-
ple. Coming back from Germany, he landed
at Enkhuizen, and went to Haarlem to meet
the Dutch congress. One of the first things
done was to reform the army and navy ; for
in robbing and insulting the people. Van der
Mark and his soldiers were almost as bad as
the Spaniards.

Old Alva went to Nymegen to rest. His
son, Don Frederic, marched to Zutphen, which
he entered, and then treated the people as if
they had been besieged ; for he ordered five
hundred of them to be drowned. This was like
savagery ; but the worst Spanish outrages were
at Naarden, to which Count Bossu was dis-

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

patched to demand its surrender. The dele-
gates sent from the town, December, 1572, to
treat with the Spaniards received a promise
that the Hves and property of the people should
be preserved, both parties joining hands to the
compact. The city gates were then opened,
and the Spaniards marched in.

While the citizens went unarmed to take
oath to the king, the women prepared a good
dinner for the king's soldiers. After this, all
the people were told to go into the little Gast-
huis church, which they did. Then the signal
was given, a fearful massacre began, and in a
few minutes hundreds of people were slaugh-
tered. One brave fellow, Hubert Williamson,
defended himself. Seizing a three-legged stool
in his left hand and using it as a shield, and
holding a sword in his right hand, he stood in
front of his house and fought a whole troop of
Spaniards, killing several of them. At length
he was wounded and overpowered by numbers.
When his daughter pleaded for her father's life,
the Spaniards picked up his fingers, cut off
by grasping their swords, and flung them in
her face. The town was completely stripped,
and, as it was forbidden to bury the dead, the
corpses were left in the streets during the
winter.

190

NAARDEN, HAARLEM, ALKMAAR, LEYDEN

Alva's purpose in this brutality was to
frighten the people of the other towns ; but in-
stead, the Spanish outrages only roused the
Dutchmen to fresh fury. Turning his back
on Naarden, Don Frederic laid siege to Haar-
lem. All who favored Philip and the Pope
were sent out of the city, and the patriots de-
termined to fight to the last. They established
the Reformed religion, and took the statues
out of the churches to make breastworks of
them. The garrison consisted chiefly of Eng-
lish, Scottish, and German soldiers, with five
hundred and fifty Netherlanders. On December
lo, 1572, Don Frederic began his march, and
the siege on the same day. It was intensely
cold, but he expected to capture the city in a
week. Planting fifteen pieces of cannon near
the Cross Gate, he made a breach; but the
Haarlemmers built a new inside wall. Such a
fort, crescent-shaped, was called a Half Moon,
which the bold sailors of Henry Hudson and
other navigators afterwards took as the lucky
name of their ships.

The women and children of Haarlem helped
in the work of the defense of the city. The
famous widow, Kenau Van Hasselaer, a woman
of rank and fortune, formed a battalion of three
hundred women and drilled them in the use

191

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

of the musket and sword, the pick and the
spade. These brave women kept guard and
fought on the walls. The lake of Haarlem
being frozen over, the people of Leyden were
able to furnish food and ammunition on sledges,
and aid was sent also from Delft. On the last
day of January, 1573, the Spaniards made an-
other determined assault, but were blown up
with gunpowder stored in mines, or were driven
back. Angry at their defeat, they cut off the
head of one of the men from Delft who were
trying to reenforce Haarlem, and flung it over
the walls.

To revenge this insult, the Haarlemmers
beheaded eleven Spanish prisoners, packed a
barrel with the bloody produce, and rolled it
toward the Spanish camp. Inside was a paper
telling the besiegers that Alva could have his
ten pence, with one for interest. Other savage
acts were done on both sides.

The intense cold, the general sickness pre-
vailing in the camp, and the desertion of so
many of his troops, made Don Frederic want
to give up the siege ; but his stern father said
that if his son was unable, he would send for
his son's mother, in Spain, to take his place.
When the frost broke up. Count Bossu, having
cut a dike and let in water over the fields,

192

o
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NAARDEN, HAARLEM, ALKMAAR, LEYDEN

opened a passage for a fleet of sixty vessels
from A msterdam. After this, the Leyden peo-
ple could not help their friends in Haarlem.
When carrier pigeons were used, they were
brought down by the Spanish sharpshooters,
so that the besiegers' plans and those of their
friends were made known to the enemy.

The winter was over, but there was no food.
The spring of 1573 had well advanced, and
the people inside the walls were eating cats,
dogs, and rats to sustain life. The Spaniards
had received fresh reenforcements. A force
of patriots marching from Delft, Leyden, and
Rotterdam, to aid their countrymen, was am-
bushed and cut to pieces. The streets of
Haarlem were crowded with the sick and dy-
ing. Don Frederic, fearing those inside would
set the city on fire, sent a trumpeter to promise
mercy. A conference was held, and after seven
months' siege the city surrendered, July 12,
1573. The Spaniards had lost twelve thou-
sand men. Once inside the city, as one of their
own authors says, they hanged, beheaded, or
drowned two thousand people.

Thus closed one of the darkest days for
Holland. Further resistance seemed hope-
less ; for there was no way of raising any more
money or men to fight. The Hollanders were
193

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

peaceful people, who had for generations known
next to nothing about war. Their towns were
poorly fortified, and were without arsenal stores
or provisions.

Yet all this time the courage of William of
Orange did not fail ; for he trusted in God and
lived up to his motto, " Always tranquil amid
the waves." One great benefit came to his
side from the enemy, in that the Spanish sol-
diers were paid very irregularly. Usually, after
every victory, there was a great mutiny. Such
an episode, which always helped the Dutch
cause, happened after the siege of Haarlem,
and delayed progress for many weeks. Don
Frederic's troops, being nearly two years and
a half behind in their wages, rebelled ; but as
soon as this matter was settled, and they had
their money in hand, their leader marched to
Alkmaar to besiege and storm the little town.

Again fresh surprises awaited Don Frederic.
Sonoy's soldiers, though out in the country
and busy in cutting off supplies, were unable
to reenforce the garrison. Yet the plain citi-
zens, men, women, and children, fought with
such valor and energy that the Spaniards were
driven back, and some of them even refused to
fight such brave people. After a month, they
met a new enemy. What happened at Briel

194

NAARDEN, HAARLEM, ALKMAAR, LEYDEN *

took place here, as it afterwards did at Leyden.
The Dutch made the waters their friends and
rolled them over the Spanish camps, washing
these out. Sonoy's men chopped away the
wooden locks in the canals, opened the sluices,
and let in the water all over the cotmtry. Soon
the Spaniards in their camps were up to their
ankles in it, with the prospect that before long
the water would be up to their knees, and even
their thighs. All their fires were put out, so
that they could not cook their food, not even
their hodge-podge of meat and vegetables.
Afraid of being drowned, they broke camp Oc-
tober 8, 1573, and hastily fled to Amsterdam,
looking like a crowd of " Mud Beggars."

Soon after this, a great naval victory took
place in the Zuyder Zee. A fleet of twenty-
four armed vessels, under Admiral Dirkson,
was cruising about to meet the fleet of Admi-
ral Bossu. Catching sight of them, but not
having much powder, the Hollanders ran their
little ships in among those of the Spaniards.
Dirkson brought his own prow close to the
big Spanish flagship, which carried thirty-two
guns and was manned by three hundred and
fifty men. A daring Dutchman, John Harik,
from Hoorn, sprang up the Spanish rigging.
Climbing up as swiftly as a monkey, he tore
^95

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

down the admiral's flag. A Spaniard instantly
shot him dead, but the episode cheered the
Dutchmen and chilled the Spaniards' ardor.
The battle lasted from the afternoon of the
nth of October until noon the next day, when,
three Spanish vessels being sunk or captured,
the others escaped by throwing their cannon
overboard. Bossu was captured and kept a
prisoner in Hoorn for three years, when he
was exchanged for Marnix, of whom we shall
hear again.

By this time Alva needed a new pair of
spectacles to see affairs in their proper light.
Nearly all North Holland was under the con-
trol of Orange. In all of the towns, magistrates
and people determined to perish, man by man,
rather than be slaves. Tired out with his hard
and bloody work in trying to exterminate such
obstinate people, Alva left Amsterdam by
night, without even paying his debts. He
then gave up his command and went back to
Spain. He left behind him a reputation that
has become a proverb for villainy, brutality,
and the butchery of Christian people. Never-
theless, after leaving Holland, he served his
king again with success in southern Europe.
In ten weeks he conquered Portugal, which
was united with the crown of Spain.

196

H
H
<
CO

<
>
<

NAARDEN, HAARLEM, ALKMAAR, LEYDEN

Philip appointed a new commander of the
Spanish army, Don Luis de Requesens, who
had won fame in fighting the Turks at the
battle of Lepanto. Great things were expected
of him. His first work was to collect at Ant-
werp a fleet of forty vessels in order to relieve
old Colonel Mondragon, who had been shut
up by the patriots in Middelburg for two
years. Hajf of the fleet of Requesens was met
by the Water Beggars, led by Admiral Boisot,
who attacked so fiercely that while Don Luis
stood on the top of a dike to watch the battle,
ten of his largest ships were destroyed. The
others sailed back to Antwerp. Again the
Beggars were masters of Zeeland and of the
sea. It had cost the king of Spain seven
million florins to hold Middelburg. Now, both
the city and the money were gone.

Nevertheless, it was hard for the Water
Beggars to keep alive ; for they had no wages.
They had to live upon what the people could
give them, or what they could get in their
captured prizes. For weeks together, they
had often nothing but hard bread and salted
herring. Yet they were no more afraid of
death than they were of hunger or hardships.
When one of their own ships was likely to
be captured, they were pretty sure to thrust

197

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

a torch into the powder magazine and blow
the vessel and themselves to pieces, rather
than be made prisoners. Gaunt, hairy, and
terribly scarred and mutilated were these des-
perate fellows. Many of their long beards
were now months old, because of their oath
not to shave or cut their hair till Egmont was
avenged. We shall hear of these Water Beg-
gars again and of Boisot, their commander, at
Leyden, which city was now being surrounded
by the Spaniards. The siege began October

31. 1573-

Louis of Nassau, brother of William, was

not very successful in his military movements,
and again he was doomed to defeat. He
raised an army of nearly ten thousand men,
mostly French, but with some Germans. He
crossed the Rhine from Germany and marched
to meet his brother William at Bommelwart,
with the idea of a joint movement for the relief
of Leyden, but on reaching the desolate heath
of Mook, the Spaniards, under Commander
Avila, met him. In the battle, which took
place April 14, 1574, the generous blood of
the Nassau princes again dyed red the soil of
the Netherlands. After his men had been
driven back by the lancers and musket-men
of Avila, Louis and Henry, the two brothers

198

NAARDEN, HAARLEM, ALKMAAR, LEYDEN

of William the Silent, headed a desperate
cavalry charge and plunged into a whirlwind
of dust and blood. They were never again
seen, nor were their bodies found. It is be-
lieved that these were so trampled in the mire
by the horses' hoofs that they could not be
recognized. Not until a few years ago was a
monument erected to their memory, in the
little church of Mook near the battlefield.

In 1898, at the festivities at Queen Wil-
helmina's coronation, the people sang in the
Begijn Hof in Amsterdam, —

" For us the Nassau princes
Died on battlefield;" —

recalling the sad memories of Mookerheide.

Again Spanish bad management helped the
patriot cause. Philip's soldiers, who had not
been paid for three years, broke out into
mutiny and marched back to Antwerp, where
they lived on the citizens. While they were
there. Admiral Boisot dashed upon the Span-
ish fleet, captured five and burned three ves-
sels, seizing a large quantity of silver, which
had been put on the ship to save it from the
pillage of the Spanish soldiers.

From the 26th of March, 1574, when the
Spaniards left the forts in front of Leyden
to march south and fight Louis of Nassau

199

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

at Mook, the siege was interrupted for two
months. But on May 26, the people of Leyden
saw in the distance the blue and white ban-
ners of Alva, and the victorious Spaniards, led
by Valdez, reappeared. The Leyden people
had been so very glad to see their tormentors
gone that, during the two months' respite,
they had neglected to lay up stores of food
or to destroy the Spanish forts. Don Luis de
Requesens, knowing this, promptly sent back
eight thousand men to besiege the city, which
had no garrison except its own burgher guards.
The Spanish commander sent a letter, promis-
ing pardon to the Leydeners; but they an-
swered with a sheet of paper on which was
written : " The fowler plays sweet notes on his
pipe, while he spreads his net for the birds."
Valdez, in charge of the besieging force, built
sixty-two forts around the town, not only to
reduce the city by cannonading the walls, but
to prevent relief by any attack in the rear.

The prospect became very dark for the
Dutch, but they had one friend in reserve all
ready to fight for them. The ocean waves
were made to be allies with the Dutch against
the Spaniards. William of Orange, at Rotter-
dam, summoned Admiral Boisot with his ter-
rible band of Water Beggars, numbering nearly

200

NAARDEN, HAARLEM, ALKMAAR, LEYDEN

a thousand scarred and maimed men, who
hated the Spaniards with a frenzy of passion
and were under oath to die rather than sub-
mit to the Pope or the Inquisition. One of
them, Captain Hoen, had with only eighteen
men, handling muskets and their long sharp-
pronged poles used in leaping ditches, killed
1 20 Spaniards on a narrow dike. The sea-
men manned two hundred flat-bottomed boats,
built at Delft, Schiedam, or Rotterdam, each
one being armed with a cannon at the bow.
One was an ironclad. Another was moved by
a wheel turned by twelve men.

When these boats were all ready, bands of
men were sent forward to cut the dikes. Be-
ginning at the sea, on the Hook of Holland,
and running westward forty miles through the
country is a great dike, in some places thirty
or forty feet high and thick enough to have a
wagon road, or street, on the top. This wall of
earth protects South Holland from the ocean
and river floods, but now necessity required
it to be broken through. At Rotterdam and
Delf shaven, great breaches many feet wide
were now cut into this dike, and through them
the waters rolled in, making a lake all the way
to Leyden. " Better a drowned land than a
lost land " was the Dutch motto. Meanwhile,

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

inside the city the people were feeding on
roots, leaves, chaff, and boiled hides, while the
ladies ate their pet dogs. The plague broke
out, and, with disease and famine, over six
thousand people had died ; yet still the burgo-
master. Van der Werf , refused to surrender.

At first the wind was unfavorable and there
was not enough water to float the rescuing
boats northward, but just at the end of the five
months, the wind changed to the northwest.
The waters of the river Maas rolled over the
country, covering it so that only tall trees and
house-tops stuck up out of the water. The
boats of the Water Beggars dashed in, and,
after terrible fighting, all the forts were taken,
except Lammen, the largest of all. Admiral
Boisot sent a message by a carrier pigeon to
the Leydenese, telling them to make a sally
next morning, but that night, October 2, 1574,
several wonderful things happened. A large
part of the city wall fell down into the ditch,
and the Spaniards evacuated their fort, leaving
it so suddenly that they did not take time to
eat their supper, but left the pot boiling over
the fire, with the hodge-podge of meat and
vegetables cooking in it.

Early in the morning, October 3, a boy
named Gijsbert Cornellisen climbed up the

NAARDEN, HAARLEM, ALKMAAR, LEYDEN

city walls. Seeing the Spanish fort deserted,
he waded and swam out to it. Standing on
the rampart, he waved his cap to the Water
Beggars, telling them the fort was empty.
Then he took the Spanish cooking pot into
the city, as proof that Leyden was saved. The
Water Beggars now drove their boats along
the canals leading into the city and were soon
within. As the men, women, and children,
gaunt, pale, and tottering, came down to the
side of the quay, the rescuers tossed up loaves
of bread and bundles of herring.

As soon as most of the people had satisfied
their hunger. Admiral Boisot and Burgomaster
Van der Werf led the procession, and all went
to the great church of St. Peter's to give
thanks to God who had made a sea upon the
dry land, and rescued them, his way being
upon the deep and his path upon the great
waters. By a wonderful Providence, the wind
soon changed to the northeast, drove back the
waters into the ocean again, and dried up the
floods. The dikes were again repaired and
the land was ready for seed. The admiral
was presented with a chain of gold, and the
poor were given more money and provisions.
Even the carrier pigeons were kept with great
care while they lived, and, after their death,

203

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

were stuffed and put in the town hall. There,
doubtless, years afterwards, the Pilgrim boys
and girls, founders of Massachusetts, who lived
in Leyden from 1610 to 1620, enjoyed seeing
them. The Spanish cooking pot and battle
flags are still kept in the city museum.

To reward the Leyden people for their
bravery, a fair was established, in addition to
the Kermis, to be held every year on the first
of October, and a university was established
and endowed with land. The third of Oc-
tober, the day of the rescue, was ever after-
wards Thanksgiving Day, and here the Pil-
grims first kept, with the Dutch, this annual
festival. Only instead of eating turkey and
cranberry sauce, it was the custom of the
Leydenese to have " huts-pot " or hodge-podge
of stewed meat and vegetables as the main
dish. The city museum of Leyden still con-
tains many relics of the great siege and of the
war for freedom. Merchants came from all
parts of the world to show their goods at the
annual fair. Leyden became even a greater
centre of the wool trade and clothmaking
than it had been before, and its wealth in-
creased. The city was enlarged and the uni-
versity grew to be one of the most famous in
the world. In it some of the Pilgrim Fathers

204

NAARDEN, HAARLEM, ALKMAAR, LEYDEN

were educated, as well as the sons of John
Adams, besides hundreds of Americans, and
nearly five thousand young men from the
British Isles.

205

CHAPTER XXIII

ENGLAND HELPS HOLLAND

It seemed impossible that brave little Holland,
with only six thousand square miles of solid
land and less than a million people, could
maintain the long battle against so powerful
a monarch as Philip and so rich a kingdom
as Spain. The Dutch therefore looked about
for some sovereign who would defend them.
But to whom should they apply — to Germany,
England, or France ? For the best of reasons
they turned to England, whose queen was a
descendant of the ancient counts of Holland.
Through Philippa, wife of Edward HI., the
Virgin Queen Elizabeth was a kinswoman to
the Duteh, who now wished her to become
the countess of Holland and the ruler of the
Netherlands.

On the other side, the Spaniards dispatched
a high lord to Elizabeth, begging her not to
help the Dutch rebels. Thus the English
queen was placed, as it were, between two fires.
She did not want a war with Spain, nor did
206

. ENGLAND HELPS HOLLAND

she altogether approve of subjects rebelling
against their sovereign. So the envoys from
both countries were kept waiting a good while
in London, and given many flatteries and pro-
mises ; for Elizabeth was a coquette, in both
love and politics.

Meanwhile the Spaniards were successful in
South Holland on land, but the Water Beggars
kept the orange, white, and blue flag afloat
on the sea. In order to stop their successes,
Requesens gathered a fine army of soldiers
and once more bade them plunge like spaniels
into the water.

The bold and fierce Spaniards, hoping to
capture the defiant little city of Zierikzee, fol-
lowed at night time a slippery submarine path,
which had been shown them by some Dutch
deserters. With powder and provisions for
three days tied about their necks, and with
their muskets held above their heads, they
marched across the wide Zype waters by
night. Their path was lighted only by the
flashes of lightning during a terrible storm.
After beating the French, Scotch, and Eng-
lish allies at the top of the dike, the Spaniards
laid siege to the town of Bommenede; but
not until three weeks had passed could they
take it, and then only by assault. When they
207

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

moved on Zierikzee, the people cut the dikes
and so flooded the country that the Spaniards
could encamp only on the tops of the dikes or
stay in their forts. Consequently, the work of
the blockade was both tedious and costly.

In North Holland, the Spaniards made very
little progress, and on the fifth of March, 1576,
they lost their leader, Don Luis de Requesens,
who did one good thing before he died. He
introduced into the Netherlands the custom
of reckoning the beginning of the year, or
New Year's Day, from January first, instead
of from Easter eve. The successor of Reque-
sens was Don John of Austria.

All hope of help from England having
ceased, Zierikzee surrendered, June 21, 1576,
but the Spaniards again lost ground by a mu-
tiny among the troops. Although the Hol-
landers were so poor, they were honest. Their
credit in the money market was good, and the
faith which they kept one with the other en-
abled them to continue the war, while the king
of Spain, with all the wealth of the new world
at his back, could not pay his soldiers. When
he was heavily in debt to the Spanish and
Genoese merchants and bankers, he found a
new way of getting rid of them. He did not
abscond, as Alva did from Amsterdam, but he

20S

ENGLAND HELPS HOLLAND

obtained from the Pope permission to break
his promises. So the poor money-lenders got
only thanks and compliments, but no coin.
Is it any wonder that the Spaniards, notwith-
standing their tremendous army and navy,
could make very little progress ?

After Zierikzee, the Spanish mutineers
wasted the open country, marched into Brabant,
and seized the town of Alost. In two or three
battles, during the year 1576, they beat the
patriot troops and then stormed and pillaged
Maastricht. Knowing that Antwerp would be
the next place to which the mutineers would
go, twenty-one new regiments of raw troops
were sent into the city as its garrison. The
Spaniards, with that sense of power which
came from their superb discipline, did not
hesitate to attack the rich city. They cap-
tured the entrenchments, drove back the raw
troops, and at midday began the loot. They
burned the town hall, with its archives of pre-
cious documents, and five hundred houses in
the richest quarter of the city. By dark they
had obtained entire possession of Antwerp.
They rushed into the houses, murdering men,
women, and children. Catholics and Protestants
alike, until about twenty-five hundred corpses
of the citizens strewed the streets.
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HISTORY OF HOLLAND

For three days, November 2, 3, and 4, 1576.
the city was given up to what was ever after-
wards known as the " Spanish Fury." The
robbers, after seizing two million crowns worth
of money, besides jewels, plate, and furniture,
squandered most of it in gambling and de-
bauchery'. The wretches could not carry their
booty with them, so, in order to keep their
gold, they had much of it melted up into sword
hilts and breastplates ; but the goldsmiths
showed that the biters could be bit, for they
alloyed the gold one half with copper.

This horrible sack of a friendly city and
the murder of so many Catholics led to good
results. It stirred up England and her mighty
queen, and they became allies of the Dutch.
It gave the great statesman William the oppor-
tunity for which he had long waited, and which
he quickly improved. Within four days, under
his influence, there was formed, and signed
November 8, what is called the Pacification of
Ghent, which bound the Netherland provinces
together in union against their enemy. Im-
mediately there was great joy throughout all
the Low Countries. The seventeen provinces
of the Netherlands were now united together
as one.

When Don John of Austria, the new com-
210

ENGLAND HELPS HOLLAND

mander, arrived, the Netherlanders compelled
him to accept the terms of the new constitu-
tion. This young man was thirty years of age
and had been at the battle of Lepanto. Many
people thought that he would be the deliverer
of the country, but William of Orange thor-
oughly mistrusted him, and soon he showed
himself to be a traitor; for he seized Namur
by fraud and force. The States found that he
could not be trusted. The people turned to
William of Orange as their leader, and he was
elected " ruward," or governor, of Brabant, one
of the highest posts of honor and power in
the land.

The Flemish noblemen, however, were very
jealous of William ; for they considered him
a German rather than a Dutchman, and his
course offended the duke of Aarschot, who,
with some other young men, had invited Mat-
thias, the archduke of Austria, and brother of
the emperor of Germany, to be the governor
of the United Netherlands.

The cause of William of Orange was the
cause of the Dutch people. It was soon greatly
strengthened by the queen of England making
a treaty with the Netherlands as an independ-
ent power. She promised to send ten thou-
sand horse and five thousand foot soldiers, and

211

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

to supply another loan of about half a million
dollars. Not long after, in 1578, Amsterdam
left the side of the king, embraced the Reformed
religion, and helped the patriot cause. On the
other hand, the king of Spain sent reenforce-
ments under the control of the prince of Parma,
so that the royalist army amounted to 16,000
infantry and 7000 cavalry. To excite the
consciences of those Catholics who were Dutch
patriots, the Pope proclaimed a crusade against
the heretics. He blessed the banner of Don
John, which had on it a crucifix with the le-
gend, " By this sign I have conquered the
Turks, and by this sign I will conquer the
heretics."

William of Orange stirred up the congress
to raise an army to meet that of Don John
and Parma ; but the states were slow, being di-
vided by personal jealousy, and disaster again
visited them. A battle was fought at Gem-
blours, in which the Spaniards killed 6000 of
the patriots, though they lost only a dozen
themselves, while Parma gained a great repu-
tation as a soldier.

Moved to action, the Netherlands states called
for an army of 20,000 men, but the condition
of the country still continued to be wretched.
There were constant quarrels between the

ENGLAND HELPS HOLLAND

Protestants and Catholics, and the campaign
of the States' army yielded nothing.

The root of the difficulty was in religion.
The far-seeing William, prince of Orange, had
long doubted whether the people of the free
churches, which were governed by themselves,
and those of the churches ruled from Rome,
could or would work well together. He him-
self had been a Catholic, a Lutheran, and a
Calvinist in succession. But whatever form
of the Christian faith he professed, he would
have nothing to do with persecution of others.
He was tolerant and believed in freedom of
conscience. He was the first of modern rulers
to protect the Anabaptists, whom other rulers
were torturing or murdering. He wondered
why good men did not believe with himself in
soul liberty.

He now began to plan a new and more per-
fect union of those states which had most fully
and heartily accepted the principles of the
Reformation. With the help of his brother,
John of Nassau, he secured a federation of the
seven northern provinces of the Netherlands,
in which, since the majority of the people were
of the Reformed faith, toleration for all kinds
of belief might be secured.

The delegates assembled for conference at
213

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

Utrecht, and after long discussion the federa-
tion of the states was accomplished. This was
the celebrated Union of Utrecht, signed Janu-
ary 23, 1579, by which the United States of the
Netherlands came into being, with a written
constitution, and under the red, white, and blue
flag, a union that was to last for over two hun-
dred years, and on which the Dutch republic
was to be built. This event is a landmark in
the history of freedom ; for it exerted a power-
ful influence in the making of the English
commonwealth and the American republic.

On the military side, the cause of freedom
made slow progress. Maastricht was besieged
and taken by the Spaniards. Renneburg, the
stadholder of Friesland, in 1580, turned traitor
and joined the ranks of the enemy. He was
the Arnold of the Dutch cause. Yet the king
of Spain did not keep his promises, and the
foolish and wicked man, Renneburg, lost doubly
by this perfidy. There was an insurrection of
the Frisian peasantry against the state troops,
who were brutal, exacting, and licentious.
These peasants carried as a banner the half of
an egg shell, to show that they had nothing to
fight for but a shell ; for they had been robbed
of everything else. The active Spaniards be-
sieged Steenwijk and captured Breda.

214

ENGLAND HELPS HOLLAND

The prince of Parma blockaded Cambrai,
which was soon in desperate straits for pro-
visions. One historian tells of a wedding feast
given there during the siege. This, in the first
course, was a salad dressed with vinegar, with-
out oil or salt. Next came a dish of hash,
made of horse flesh, which was set at the top
of the table, while at the bottom was the boiled
joint of an ass. In the middle were roasts of
horse rib on one side and two roasted cats on
the other, with a potpie made of cats in the
middle. The dessert was radishes and onions,
without salt. Yet Parma did not take Cam-
brai and had to retreat ; for the duke of Anjou
had come from France to its relief, and to him
the states of the Netherlands had offered the
countship, or sovereignty.

Hitherto the states had issued their com-
missions to their officers in the name of the
king of Spain ; but being convinced that he
would never grant liberty of conscience, they
dropped the fiction and faced the reality. In
July, 1 58 1, the United Netherlands published
their declaration of independence. They de-
posed Philip, and declared themselves sov-
ereign states. They resolved never again to
come under the control of the Spanish mon-
arch, no matter what should happen. Besides
215

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

a defeat of the Dutch troops and allies under
the English commander, Sir John Norris, Wil-
liam of Orange lost this year the services of
his spy in Madrid, who, as secretary of the
king of Spain, had for ten years supplied him
with secret information. This man, Andreas,
was discovered, tried, and condemned. Each
of his hands and legs was tied to a wild horse.
The four animals were then driven with whips,
and the unfortunate sufferer was pulled to
pieces.

While the duke of Anjou was being installed
at Antwerp as duke of Brabant, February i8,
1582, an attempt was made to assassinate Wil-
liam of Orange. This was but one of several
efforts to get the Dutch leader out of the way.
The fanatic fired a pistol into William's face,
being so near that the skin was burned. The
bullet went into the jaw, but William recovered.
The assassin, who was a Spaniard twenty-three
years old, was instantly put to death. During
William's illness he was tenderly nursed by
his wife, Charlotte of Bourbon, a lady of very
romantic history, who died soon after her hus-
band recovered, the shock being too great for
her. She left six daughters, all of whom grew
up to be good and noble women, and prin-
cesses of fame.

216

ENGLAND HELPS HOLLAND

The poor Netherlands were still in a sad
plight ; for while Philip prepared to push the
war with greater vigor, the soldiers of Anjou
harmed rather than helped the cause of free-
dom. At Antwerp, on January i8, 1583, there
was a " French fury ; " that is, the French sol-
diers rushed into the city expecting to kill,
burn, and rob, as the Spaniards had already
done before them ; but in this case the citizens
acted with such energy and defended them-
selves so bravely, that the whole affair miser-
ably failed. By this time, the Dutchmen had
had enough of foreign help. They were tired
of seeking princes from other lands, and dis-
gusted with them. From this day forth, they
depended upon themselves, raising up both
soldiers and rulers at home.

But just when they were about to decide to
make William of Orange, who had long de-
clined the honor, count of Holland, in place
of their deposed prince, Philip of Spain, the
great man was slain by an assassin. Balthazar
Gerard, a young man only twenty-six years
old, pretending to be the son of a rnartyr of
the Reformed faith, secured entrance into the
chamber of William, in Delft, and actually
got from him some money. With this he
bought two pistols, loading one with three bul-
217

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

lets. The next day, July lo, 1584, coming to
get his passport, he fired at the prince just
after he had risen from the dinner table and
was mounting the stairway, and killed him.
The assassin was put to death with horrible
tortures, such as are now employed only by
savages, but which were then used by all Eu-
ropean nations.

William was buried with unique honors in
the great church at Delft, in which all the
princes of the house of Orange have since
been laid, and where to-day his splendid tomb
may be seen. He was the fourth of the five
sons of his mother, who, for their adopted
country, had poured out blood as well as for-
tune. William had been four times married.
His first wife was Anne of Egmont ; his sec-
ond, Anne of Saxony ; his third, Charlotte de
Bourbon ; and his fourth, Louise de Coligny.
At his death, he left ten daughters and three
sons. Of the latter, one had been kept in
Spain and made a Jesuit, Maurice was the
young general, and the baby, Frederick Henr}',
lived to become the stadholder. William's
great and good wife, who survived him, Louise
de Coligny, brought up her own son, Frederick
Henry, and married all the daughters into
princely houses, so that the blood of William

218

ENGLAND HELPS HOLLAND

the Silent runs in the veins of nearly all the
royal families of Europe, making a most won-
derful " Orange tree."

William was the leader of the great popular
movement which brought independence of
Spain and secured the rise of the Dutch Re-
public. He has always been called Pater
Patriae, the Father of his Country, or the
Father of the Fatherland. All over the Nether-
lands, the friends of Spain celebrated the
assassination with joy, and kindled bonfires to
show their delight. At Bois le Due, in the
morning, the priests sang a Te Deum, but at
night the lightning struck the church belfry
and destroyed it, the rest of the town being
unhurt. It is one of the strange things in his-
tory that sweet and tender hymns of praise to
God, like the Te Deum, should be so often
chosen to celebrate murder and bloodshed and
the triumph of force and fraud.

The Spaniards thought that now the Dutch,
having lost their leader, would yield, but in-
stead of this, they began to improve their army
and to fight more earnestly. The statesman,
John of Barneveldt, was especially active in
providing money and supplies. Under the
new treaty made with England, Queen Eliza-
beth sent over, late in 1585, a large fleet and
219

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

army, with the earl of Leicester as governor-
general of the English forces. His arrival at
Flushing was celebrated with great splendor.

Parma besieged Antwerp, then under com-
mand of Marnix, and by building a bridge
across the river Scheldt, succeeded after some
months in capturing the once rich city. He
made his triumphal entry on August 30, 1585.
After this, the Belgian provinces became obedi-
ent to the king of Spain, and henceforth took
no further part in the struggle for liberty.
Antwerp lost its best citizens, mostly men of
the Reformed faith, who emigrated to England
or went to live in Holland, so that Amsterdam
soon became the richest city in Europe.

The English earl of Leicester made himself
very unpopular in the Netherlands. His fail-
ures were more frequent than his successes,
and his blunders were very disastrous. Soon
there were quarrels between him and his sover-
eign, and between him and the States-General.
At Warnsveld, near Zutphen, the popular
knight and scholarly soldier, Sir Philip Sidney,
was wounded, and afterwards died in the same
year, 1586, which saw the decease of Cardinal
Granvelle and the parents of Parma. Sluys
was besieged and Leicester was recalled.

For years the great Spanish Armada had

ENGLAND HELPS HOLLAND

been preparing to invade England, conquer its
people, and annex the country to Spain. The
army of the duke of Parma was to cooperate
with this fleet, land, and govern England ; but
Parma had no ships, only boats, and these
were blockaded by the Water Beggars, so that
they could not get out to cross the channel.
The Invincible Armada was destroyed in Brit-
ish waters in 1588, many of the Dutch ships
assisting the English, and Spain was again
humbled. Parma could not even invade Hol-
land ; for just when he had his soldiers ready
to do so, they broke out into mutiny. The
Dutch and English, uniting together, sent a
fleet southward to " singe the king of Spain's
beard," and captured Lisbon in Portugal.

221

CHAPTER XXIV

PRINCE MAURICE THE UNION GENERAL

The young Prince Maurice, first son of William
of Orange, was made captain-general of the
union of the states. He began his brilliant
career in 1590, by capturing Breda through a
stratagem. Picking out sixty-eight brave boys
and young men, he packed them under the
deck of a loaded turf-boat. The vessel was
brought by the master up to the walls of the
city. Then the Spanish soldiers took hold of
the rope and pulled the craft along the canal
into the city. It being very cold, the turf was
much wanted, so that part of the cargo was
unloaded very fast. At dark, the skipper, giv-
ing the soldiers some money for drink, bade
them good-evening, telling them to come in
the morning. At midnight, the brave Dutch-
men crept out noiselessly, seized the citadel,
and signaled to the Dutch and English troops
outside. These were soon thundering at the
gates, and the town was captured. Barneveldt,
who suggested the enterprise, was handsomely

rewarded.

222

PRINCE MAURICE THE UNION GENERAL

The young soldier, Maurice, was made stad-
holder. He was not a great statesman, like his
father, but he was a much more skillful soldier
and engineer. William had never won a battle.
Maurice was to be victor in many of them, He
had the invaluable assistance of the civilian,
John of Barneveldt, one of the greatest states-
men in all the history of Holland. Working
together hand in hand, the man of the sword
and the man of the pen created a native army
which became the finest in Europe. These
soldiers of the republic were not aliens, fight-
ing for pay, but young and brave patriots full
of zeal and hope for their country. They were
well clothed, well fed, and moral in their habits
of life. They were governed by a code which
required strict obedience to the laws of God
and man. As they received their wages regu-
larly, there were no mutinies in the Dutch
army, nor anything like the disgraceful scenes
from which even the friends of the Spaniards
suffered. This code of military laws was after-
wards borrowed, with improvements, for use in
Virginia, and under Governor Dale made the
settlement of Jamestown a success. It also
became a basis of the new model army in
the English Commonwealth, under which the

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

soldiers of Lord Fairfax and Cromwell were
trained.

Money is the sinews of war. No nation can
have or hold very long a good army, unless the
war chest is kept full. To get coin by borrow-
ing, there must first be credit. To raise cash
from the people, there must be a good system
of taxes. Barneveldt was the great and wise
statesman who kept up the credit of Holland.
He carefully calculated what the people were
able to pay. Almost everything was taxed —
houses, lands, horses, dogs, carriages, chim-
neys, and windows, besides beer, wine, tobacco,
starch, and other luxuries and necessities. In
the main, the people paid their taxes cheer-
fully, because they themselves had voted them.
It is astonishing what a large revenue was
raised from starch, but all kinds of ruffs, cuffs,
quilted linen, wide, flat collars, caps and capes,
aprons, and everything that could show a glis-
tening, snow-white surface were in fashion, and
the Dutch had more underclothing, better laun-
dries, and used more soap and water than any
other people in Europe.

There was not much fighting in the open,
but a great deal was done by means of sieges
and defense. War became more a matter of
science and mathematics. Campaigns seemed

224

PRINCE MAURICE THE UNION GENERAL

rather like games of chess, in which the walled
cities stood for so many pieces, to be moved on
or off the board. In the whole of the Nether-
lands, in the time of Alva, there were 208
walled cities, 150 chartered towns, and 6300
villages, with their watch towers and steeples,
besides many more hamlets. To guard the
country, there were sixty great fortresses. Yet
it must be remembered that the greater popu-
lation and the larger number of cities were in
the southern, or Belgic Netherlands, and that
the seven Dutch united states, formed by the
Union of Utrecht, did not have, all together, a
million people. Probably there were not as
many as fifty walled cities, though among these
latter were some very strong fortresses.

The usual method in war, when Maurice
first took command, was for an army to invest
a city, dig intrenchments, and set up lines of
fortifications, making forts with earth walls
or redoubts of sandbags. Gabions, made by
weaving osiers or the branches of trees around
poles — high, hollow structures, looking like
baskets — were much used. These were filled
with earth and the cannon posted behind them.
After the artillery had pounded the walls and
made a breach, an assault was ordered, and the
town was stormed. Ladders, hooks, and ropes

225

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

having been made ready, the nimble men scaled
parts of the walls, usually at an angle, while
the most of the garrison were massed at the
breach, to resist the main attack. The gates
once opened, the cavalry rushed in.

Maurice, by using new plans, developed the
art of war. His cannon, both for field and
siege, were heavier than had been known be-
fore, and his work was more speedy. In a bril-
liant and successful campaign of five months,
in 1 59 1, he captured Zutphen, Deventer, Hulst,
Nymegen, beside Delfzyl and many smaller
forts. Then, as the winter rains were coming
on and Barneveldt was ill, he put his troops
into comfortable quarters and went to The
Hague. There he was welcomed by the peo-
ple with the highest joy. Maurice had taken
for his blazon a young sapling growing from
beside the stump of a tree, which had been cut
down, with the motto, " At length the sprout
becomes the tree." All the people felt that the
promise had been redeemed, and the prophecy
fulfilled.

The next year, 1592, the same in which the
duke of Parma died, Maurice captured Steen-
wijk and Coevorden. In 1593, the famous siege
and capture of Geertruydenburg took place,
and following this the city of Groningen. In

226

THE ASSAULT <

)N COEVORDEN

PRINCE MAURICE THE UNION GENERAL

1597 he gained a brilliant victory at Turnhout,
and then captured a Hne of forts, one after an-
other, at Aplen, Thynberg, Meurs, Grol, etc.
In this campaign, the youngest son of William
of Orange, Frederick Henry, though only thir-
teen years of age, took part. Then still another
line of fortresses fell into his hands.

Various attempts were made by different
envoys to bring about peace between Spain
and the Netherlands, but the Dutch insisted
on freedom of conscience, which the Spanish
king would not grant. When in the Belgian,
or southern provinces, a woman was put to
death by being buried alive for heresy, which
meant being a Protestant, the detestation and
horror of the Spanish system increased.

Meanwhile the Dutch, beginning with Com-
mander Houtman in 1595, sent their explorers
into all parts of the world and opened the com-
merce of Java, the Spice Islands, and the Far
East. One day, while Maurice was before his
camp at Grave, in 1602, two envoys from the
Malay state of Atjeh came to him, bringing
presents and asking for his friendship. Soon
the Japanese and Chinese became regular and
profitable customers. They did not care for
butter or cheese, with which the Dutch at first
tried them, but they were glad to exchange
227

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

their silk, tea, and metals for Dutch manufac-
tures. The Dutch prospered in the trade, mak-
ing from the spices and fruits, gems and gold,
and various products, millions of guilders, by
which they could keep up their army and navy.
Thus they were enabled to pay their great war
debts as they went along, and to win their
Asiatic empire of Insulinde, or Island India.

The States-General became so exultant over
their brightening prospects that the invasion
of Flanders was determined upon. Maurice
did not believe this was the thing to be
done ; but, like a good soldier, he obeyed. At
Newport, July i, 1600, he won a tremendous
victory over the enemy. It was a stoutly con-
tested conflict in the open field, with infantry,
cavalry, and artillery, the English allies taking
a noble part in it. Over one hundred battle
flags, taken from the Spaniards, were hung up
in the great Hall of the Knights, at The Hague,
where the States-General met.

Notwithstanding the glory of this great vic-
tory of the republican army, trouble arose at
this time, which continued for many years, be-
tween the young general and the older states-
man Barneveldt. Maurice was often obliged
to take orders from his civilian superiors that
were against his judgment as a soldier, and by

228

PRINCE MAURICE THE UNION GENERAL

obeying them, he failed to win the victories
which he believed he could gain if left to carry
out his own ideas.

A town on the seashore named Ostend was
besieged by the enemy, and thousands of men
were slaughtered. It seemed hardly worth
while to waste so many human lives and so
much money on this wretched little fishing vil-
lage among the sandhills. First surrounded
with palisades and a wooden gate to keep sol-
diers from marching through it, it was gradually
fortified by William of Orange, until it became
one of the strong places of the Netherlands,
and in 1601 it had a garrison of five thousand
men. A siege was then begun by the Span-
iards. For three years, from 1601 to 1604, fight-
ing went on, with an enormous loss on both
sides ; for the Zeeland patriots from the outside
were able to supply the garrison with plenty of
bread, beef, beer, fish, and vegetables. The be-
siegers poured in storms of cannon balls and
red-hot shot, but the townspeople covered their
houses with sod, making them fireproof against
the red-hot balls. Bomb shells, which were
new inventions, first made in 1587, by a man
in Venlo, were rained in ; but as each month
passed by, the place seemed fresher and
stronger than ever.

229

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

The States-General resolved that the defense
should be continued, no matter how many years
it might be necessary ; for their purpose was to
keep the Spanish army employed at Ostend,
so that they would not invade the Netherlands.
Consequently, the siege continued for nearly
four years. When surrender was made, the
garrison marched out with the honors of war.
The Spaniards entered it at last, to find no-
thing but ruins. Four million guilders and fifty
thousand men had been spent by the Dutch,
and more by the Spaniards. It was a long
while before the town was built up again. To-
day it is a bright and smiling watering-place,
where children play in the sand, and multitudes
who love fun rest, bathe, chat, and enjoy them-
selves.

At sea the Dutch sailors won as many naval
victories as the soldiers on land, so that at last
the king of Spain (not Philip 1 1., who had died
in 1598, but Philip III.) sent envoys to talk of
peace. Met by Maurice and the Dutch en-
voys, and riding in sleighs over the frozen
canals, the Spaniards came to The Hague as
guests and sat as friends in council with their
late enemies.

A truce for twelve years was agreed upon.
During this time, from 1609 to 1621, there was
to be no fighting.

230

PRINCE MAURICE THE UNION GENERAL

With a dozen years of uninterrupted com-
merce in view, a great revival of business and
manufactures began. Many Walloons, or peo-
ple from the southern or Belgian Netherlands,
not liking Spanish or priestly rule, settled in
Holland. Thousands of Englishmen, not en-
joying life under King James I., were attracted
to the republic. They came to make money,
to study in the universities, to print books, as
they were free to do, or to worship God in the
way they desired. Among these people, mostly
from the eastern counties, were many from
London, and even from the Yorkshire, Notting-
ham, and Lincolnshire region, who afterwards
became the founders and settlers of New Eng-
land.

Holland's enemies had agreed to the truce
because they were hoping that the Dutch
would, as soon as they were free from a foreign
war, fight and quarrel among themselves, and
thus tear each other to pieces. They knew that
Maurice and Barneveldt had disagreed, and
that the Christians called Calvinists and Ar-
minians wasted no love on each other.

The Spaniards were partly right. As poli-
tics and religion were still mixed together, as
in the older time, the. quarrel broke- out only
too soon. There were many Dutch people who
231

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

held that " the Christian religion " meant only
that form of it which Calvin had taught ; but
a minority thought that their kind of Chris-
tianity, which Professor Arminius defended,
was the best. Religiously, the parties came to
be known as Remonstrants or Arminians, and
Contra-Remonstrants or Calvinists.

Politically, there was the feeling among some
that Maurice wanted to be king, while the
partisans of Maurice thought that Barneveldt
and his party favored Spain, and were receiv-
ing presents in gold from Philip III. The
proud and wealthy city people, who held most
of the offices, seemed to be on one side with
Barneveldt, while the military men, and most
of the common people, seemed to be on the
other with Maurice. A great many hard names
were called and bitter feelings gendered. The
parties seemed to be anti-Orange and Orange,
or, as the Orange partisans put it in Dutch,
" Spanje Oranje " — Spain or Orange !

As passions waxed hotter, some of the states
and cities began to raise militia and to build
forts. This stirred up Maurice, the stadholder
and captain-general, who, with the union army,
changed many of the city governments, and
compelled the militia to lay down their arms.
At one time it looked as though there would

232

PRINCE MAURICE THE UNION GENERAL

be a secession of the two richest states, Hol-
land and Utrecht, from the union. In 1600
Groningen had refused to pay its taxes and
furnish its share of soldiers, and had nullified
the national law. Then the Congress, or States-
General, had sent union soldiers to coerce the
state, and the danger of secession passed by.
Now, in 16 1 8, in much the same form, a greater
danger confronted the nation. Barneveldt,
Grotius the great lawyer and scholar, and
Hoogerbeets, pensionary of Rotterdam, were
arrested and imprisoned.

To settle the religious questions, a national
synod was called by the States-General, which
was held at Dordrecht in 1618 and 16 19. It
is sometimes called the First Protestant Ecu-
menical Council. This was made up of sixty-
six delegates from various Reformed countries.
The Arminians were not present as members,
but were cited to appear as offenders. After
154 sessions, lasting through six months, from
November 13, 1618, to May 6, 161 9, the doc-
trinal statements of the Reformed religion in
the Netherlands were fixed. The Arminians
were condemned, but the salaries of their minis-
ters were paid, and they were treated well when
they did not resist.

This " Synod of Dort " also did a good deal
233

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

to improve popular education and ordered a
new translation of the Bible to be made. This,
called the " States-General Version," is still the
standard one in Dutch, being one of the very
best ever made in any European language. It
is used by the boers, or farmers, and the peo-
ple generally, throughout the Netherlands, and
is the one book above all others among the
Boers of South Africa and the Dutch colonists
everywhere.

Nevertheless, the synod was almost entirely
under political influence. It was arranged and
directed by politicians. Five days after its ad-
journment. May 13, 161 9, Barneveldt was con.
demned to death. He was beheaded in the
Binnen Hof at The Hague. Grotius, impris-
oned at the castle of Loevenstein, got free by
a clever stratagem of his wife. She took his
place at the table, with his manuscripts, while
he was packed into a big box, which had been
used from time to time for bringing in and
carrying out books. Although he was nearly
smothered while in the chest, he got safely to
Gorkum, a half hour's sail distant down the
river, and thence traveled to Paris. There he
wrote that wonderful book, on war and peace
and the laws of nations, which first roused the
conscience of the civilized world, and which

234

THE GREAT SYNl

SVNOD OF DORT

PRINCE MAURICE THE UNION GENERAL

has probably done more public good among
nations than any other book except the Bible.
It was one of the results of Grotius's work
that the International Peace Congress was
held at The Hague. At Delft a monument
and statue of Grotius show how his country-
men now honor him. On the 4th of July,
1899, the United States, by order of the gov-
ernment at Washington, laid a costly wreath
upon his grave in the great church, and cele-
brated his work by appropriate exercises, in-
cluding worship, oration, and a public dinner
in the city hall.

The war broke out again in 1621, and
Spinola, the new Spanish commander, laid
siege to Bergen-op-Zoon, but Maurice enlarged
the garrison and Spinola retreated. When
the Spanish silver fleet from the West Indies
reached Spain and there was more money to
pay the army, Spinola laid siege to Breda,
while Maurice was busy in other places. Bar-
neveldt was no longer living to furnish the
ready money to keep the Dutch war chest
full. Maurice found it hard work to get what
he had lost, — not only popularity, but also
some of his former skill. Disappointed and
vexed, he died in 1625. He was never mar-
ried. Maurice was one of the ablest generals
235

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

of Europe, but was not a man of pure life, and
there is to-day in Holland no monument to
his memory.

It was in the time of the great truce,
1609-162 1, and around the historic figures of
Maurice and Barneveldt, that the two politi-
cal parties formed which have existed to the
present time in the Netherlands. They pre-
serve the balance of power held by the national
government at the centre and locally in the
provinces, or between the union and the sepa-
rate states, the king and the people.

236

CHAPTER XXV

THE BLOOM OF THE REPUBLIC

Although Prince Maurice, the mighty gen-
eral, was dead, and Spain was still determined
to fight and subdue them, the Dutch people
were quite happy. This period, the middle of
the seventeenth century, stands out as one of
the most glorious in their history, and the
Dutch call it " our golden era." It was a time
of discoveries, inventions, and fine art. Com-
merce was flourishing and luxury abounded.
The Bank of Amsterdam, one of the first in
northern Europe, was established. Besides
the herring fisheries, there was great wealth
gained in hunting the whale. During the
summer months of the year, a Dutch city,
well called Smeerenburg, for it was a greasy
place, with nearly ten thousand persons, ex-
isted on Spitzbergen, the islands of the pointed
hills, so named by the Dutch. The red, white,
and blue flag floated on all seas. The bold
explorers and daring sailors were in all the
oceans, sailing to the East Indies and trying
237

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

to find a passage thither around the north of
Europe or America, discovering Cape Horn
and the Hudson river, while the great trading
corporation called the \\^est India Company,
jestingly called " John Company," formed in
1602, was making fortunes for its stockholders.
The East India Company was even more suc-
cessful, enriching those who held stock in it,
and building up a great colonial empire, now
called Insulinde, or Island India, in which
dwell thirty-five million subjects of the queen
of the Netherlands.

Before he died, Maurice had seen the mar-
riage of his brother and companion, Fred-
erick Henry, now becorhe stadholder, to a very
lovely and capable woman, Amalia Van Solms.
Frederick took the field, at the head of his
army, in 1627, and won a brilliant victory by
capturing Grol. Breda had surrendered to the
Spaniards, but then they were so exhausted
that they could do little against the Dutch,
and after a while Breda was recaptured. The
year 1632 was a brilliant one for Frederick
Henry. In 1639 Tromp destroyed the new
Spanish fleet. In 1645 Hulst was taken. The
Spaniards were now anxious for peace.

During this golden era, the Dutch artists
were painting those great pictures that still de-

238

THE BLOOM OF THE REPUBLIC

light the world. Rembrandt and Franz Hals,
Paul Potter and Jan Steen, with scores of
others, were picturing comedy and tragedy,
telling stories or making jokes on canvasses ;
for those pictures of Dutch life which still
charm us were the novels of that time. The
country became famous for its new and beau-
tiful flowers brought from the Far East, as
well as for its hothouses and flower farms.
The tulips were of many colors, but new va-
rieties were constantly called for. The peo-
ple being rich and luxurious, there were many
curious fads and fashions. In 1637 the price
of tulips rose very high. Several persons
made large fortunes in the trade of bulbs, but
thousands more lost a great deal of money.
For many months even boys and girls, as well
as grown men and women, thought of nothing
else but of buying and selling tulips and of
trying to get rich in the business of gam-
bling with flowers. This tulipomania, as it
was called, finally died out, and the "wind
trade " was over.

Prince Frederick Henry died in 1647, at the
age of sixty-three. He had been a good sol-
dier, an able ruler, and a generous and sincere
man. His favorite book was Csesar's " Com-
mentaries," and he left behind him a volume of
239

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

memoirs. He almost worshiped the memory
of his father, and his motto was Patriceque,
patrique ; that is, "both for country and for
father." He was a man of peace, even more
than of war. He did much to heal the quar-
rels between the Calvinists and Arminians.
His widow built the pretty House in the
Wood, that cosy little palace which Ameri-
cans like to visit, in which the Peace Con-
gress of 1899 held its sessions.

During Prince Henry's rule, the intellect of
the Dutch bloomed brilliantly like their own
gardens. The arts, both of use and of beauty,
especially in glass staining, music, science,
learning, and literature, during this period,
have never been excelled. Beginning with
1625, we may say that the golden era was
closed in 1648, by the great peace of Miinster,
which meant the compliance of Spain with
such terms as the Dutch states dictated. This
treaty ended the long Eighty Years' War,
which had so exhausted Spain. In 1609, the
united efforts of France and England had not
been able to obtain what the Dutch now re-
ceived easily; namely, recognition by Spain of
the fact that the United Netherlands consti-
tuted a free and sovereign state, to which the
Spanish king, for himself and his successors,

240

THE BLOOM OF THE REPUBLIC

renounced all title or claim forever. The river
Scheldt was to be kept closed, so that Holland
might, but Belgium could not profit by foreign
commerce.

This was an ungenerous clause, which dried
up Antwerp as a port and caused the Belgians
to remain for two hundred years an agricul-
tural and manufacturing, but not a commer-
cial people. For two centuries the southern
Netherlands, now called Belgium, was little
more than a piece of private property in the
pocket of the king of Spain or of Austria,
without any of the glorious history, which
the free republic of the Netherlands enjoyed.
When the river Scheldt was, in the last cen-
tury, opened to commerce, Antwerp thrived
like a tree planted by the rivers of water.

When Prince Frederick Henry's son grew
up, he married the princess royal of England,
though the bride was only eleven years old.
The marriage took place at the chapel of
Whitehall in London, on the first of May,
1 64 1. Although this seemed a very pretty
thing to do, yet it was bad for the Dutch
nation, and the beginning of a great many
troubles to the Dutch people ; for theirs being
a free republic without a court, and the stad-
holder being a president and not a king, he
241

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

was expected to be what he was and nothing
else, that is, holding power for the benefit of
the people. Each of the stadholders was " the
first servant of the States-General," but by-
marrying into royal families they were tempted
to take more authority than belonged to them.
They were liable to be filled with ambitions
which have no place in the mind of the true
servant of a republic. William II. became
stadholder in 1647, but died in 1650.

In fact, this policy of marrying into the
royal family of England, especially into the
family of the Stuarts, was one of the chief
causes of the ruin of the Dutch republic.
When civil war broke out in England between
the Cavaliers and the Roundheads, it was very
hard .for the Dutch to preserve peace. Not a
few of the quarrels, and much of the bloodshed
belonging properly to England, were trans-
ferred to Dutch soil. Among other outrages
was the assassination, in 1649, at The Hague,
of Dorislaus, Cromwell's advocate-general, who
was murdered by some followers of the earl
of Montrose.

Up to the middle of the seventeenth cen-
tury, the Dutch ships had been the common
carriers on the ocean for pretty much all Eu-
rope, if not the whole world. They took not

242

THE BLOOM OF THE REPUBLIC

only their butter, cheese, and other products
into England, France, America, and the Far
East, but they carried English wool, French
wine, Norway timber, and German wheat from
one country to another. The English looked
with jealous eyes upon this Dutch enterprise,
and upon the prosperity which it brought, and
resolved to enter upon the one and gain the
other. They set themselves not only to imi-
tate the Dutch in fisheries, in whale hunting,
and manufactures, but also to get the trade of
the sea. With this object in view, Parliament
in 165 1 passed what is called the Act of Navi-
gation. This act required that the produc-
tions of Asia, Africa, and America should be
brought into England only in English ships,
on which the greater part of the crew must be
English. Only silk and the precious metals
— gold and silver — brought from Italy were
excepted. Other European productions must
be imported only in ships belonging to the
country which produced these articles.

One could see in a moment that this Act of
Navigation was directed against the Dutch.
Salted fish, whales, and whale oil, which only
the Dutch exported, were forbidden to be car-
ried into England except in English vessels.
British men-of-war enforced these laws very
243

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

roughly. Their commanders also rigidly com-
pelled all ships, as they had done before, to
lower their topsails when meeting an English
war vessel in the seas immediately surround-
ing Great Britain.

Such aggressive politics led to a naval war
between the Dutch and English. Terrible
battles were fought near Plymouth, at Dover,
and at Folkestone, in which Admiral Tromp,
whom the British call " Van " Tromp, won
great glory. Dutch commerce seemed to be
nearly ruined for a while, and the American
colonies were also much affected for the worse.
Indeed, the colonists were nearly as bitterly
angered at the Navigation Act as were the
Dutchmen. In the end, this legislation proved
to be one great cause of the American Revo-
lution. British greed outstripped itself. The
gun kicked and hurt the gunner.

The Dutch were now enjoying the blessings
and suffering the woes of government by party.
While they had one ruler or sovereign, their
joys and sorrows were of another sort. Now
that they were free, they had the difficult task
of governing themselves. During the Great
Truce of 1609-162 1, what with the problems
of state sovereignty and national supremacy,
the union and secession, mixed up with theo-

244

THE BLOOM OF THE REPUBLIC

logical questions of Calvinism and Arminian-
ism, their brains and hearts were well occupied.
" Spanje Oranje " was then the cry. In general
the plain people were with the house of Orange,
and the more aristocratic with the regents or
city politicians, the former laying emphasis on
having a strong central government, the latter
standing up stoutly for local freedom in state
and city.

For a number of years after the death of the
stadholder, William II., in 1650, and after long
and bitter quarrels between the Orange party
and the regents' party, or between the central-
izing and the municipal partisans, the Dutch
went without a stadholder and Holland be-
came a parliamentary republic. Increasingly
the politics of the Netherlands seemed to turn
on the question of Orange and anti-Orange,
and we shall see the results.

245

CHAPTER XXVI

THE PARLIAMENTARY REPUBLIC

For over twenty years, from 1650 to 1672, the
government of the Netherlands was without a
stadholder, or president. The officer at the
head of the government was called a pension-
ary, which means simply one who receives a
salary. His name was John DeWitt. A man
of marked abilities, he lived in simple style.
He was always patriotic and faithful to his
duties. Those who had been jealous of the
power and influence of the house of Orange
were very glad to see the republic so well gov-
erned without any prince, but with only an
ordinary gentleman at the head of it.

During this time the English people, who
tolerate royalty only as long as royalty behaves
itself, had, on January 30, 1649, cut off the
head of their foolish and wicked ruler, Charles
I., and were doing without crowns and kings.
One would have supposed that the two repub-
lics on opposite sides of the North Sea, Eng-
lish and Dutch, would have been very friendly;

246

THE PARLIAMENTARY REPtJBLIC

but it requires something else than similar
forms of government to make friendship be-
tween nations, especially when one wants to
make more money than the other and get away
a lucrative business. At the bottom of most
wars is that love of money, which is " a root of
all kinds of evil."

So after the English laws, which destroyed
the Dutch sea trade, had been passed, bitter-
ness and jealousy sprang up. This was espe-
cially so when the English seized the Dutch
ships. Admiral Martin Tromp, whose name
means a trumpet, and which has no " van "
before it, was sent to fight the English admiral,
Blake, who was beaten in a great battle. Ac-
cording to the story, Tromp nailed a broom
to his topmast, to show that he had swept the
English off the seas. Although it is not at all
certain that this ever happened, the nailing of
brooms to the mast after a victory, or the wear-
ing of little toy brooms after triumph in a boat
race, has since become a common custom.

Cromwell did not like to fight the Dutch, but
he had been told that they had insulted some
English sailors, which was not true. More
battles were fought, and in one of them,
August 8, 1653, the great Admiral Tromp was
slain. Other causes of bad feeling between the
247

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

two countries sprang up, but the war was on
the water only, and after a while envoys of the
two nations came together in London and made
a treaty of peace at Westminster. The chief
ambassador was Jacob Cats, whose wise, witty,
and funny sayings and poetry, much like Benja-
min Franklin's, are known all over Holland.

In 1660, after both Cromwell and his son
Richard had died, the English commonwealth
collapsed, and Charles II, became king. Al-
though Charles had been kindly treated in
Holland, he disliked the Dutch because of their
republican ideas and ways. He even forced
them to deliver up three of the judges who had
tried his father and sentenced him to death.
The king's brother, James, the duke of York,
went around like a pirate, capturing Dutch
ships wherever he could lay his hands on them.
Although it was a time of peace, in 1664, when
Governor Stuyvesant had no soldiers, he sent
warships and soldiers into the harbor of New
York, seized New Netherland, and made it
English territory.

In Holland, the partisans of Orange and of
DeWitt were very bitter against each other.
Their quarrels extended not only all over the
country, but even the sailors of the fleet were
divided in their opinions and sympathies. To

248

THE PARLIAMENTARY REPUBLIC

strengthen the Dutch republic in the naval
war against England, called the " Second Eng-
lish Sea War," John DeWitt made an alliance
with France ; but in a great naval battle, off
North Foreland, in 1665, the Dutch lost nine-
teen ships. One of the sad results of this
disaster to the Dutch was the long and bitter
quarrel between young Tromp, son of the dead
admiral, and the gallant DeRuyter, who con-
ducted the retreat so admirably.

Then indeed it looked dark for Holland, but
the outlook became brighter when Admiral
Michael DeRuyter took command of the new
fleet of eighty-five men-of-war and sixteen fire-
ships. At first it was feared that his vessels
could not get out of the Zuyder Zee, on the
shores of which they had been built and pro-
visioned ; for the wind was blowing southwest-
wardly. There was a narrow and shallow pas-
sage called the " Spaniards' Hole," through
which the fleet might possibly go, but the
sailors hesitated, and even the pilot said that
they could not get through.

Then John DeWitt, though only a lawyer
and not a seaman, went out in a boat with lead
and line, sounding the way through the Span-
iards' Hole. He found that there was water
deep enough, and that DeRuyter's fleet could
249

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

quickly get out to sea. So the long line of
vessels sailed gallantly out, moved over the
North Sea, and then steered southwardly, meet-
ing the English fleet. In 1666, a battle last-
ing four days took place under the chalk cliffs
of Kent, in which, after tremendous bravery on
both sides, the Dutch were victorious. For
the first time in war, chain-shot, which cut up
the ship's rigging terribly, was used. DeWitt
is said to have invented it.

The Dutch proved the truth of the saying,
"United we stand, divided we fall." The
Orangeists and Anti-Orangeists still quarreled.
When the campaign opened again, on July 25,
1666, Tromp and DeRuyter were not yet
reconciled, and the British gained the advan-
tage. The next year, 1667, Admiral DeRuyter
took his fleet of ships across the North Sea
and actually got into the river Thames, burn-
ing English ships and making the people in
London fear that he might come up further
and capture London. At last the foolish Eng-
lish king, Charles IL, who had wickedly made
war against Holland, sought for peace, which
was signed July i, 1667, at Breda, the city of
the beautiful spire.

In 1652, a change had been made in the
Dutch flag, so that the colors should always be

250

THE PARLIAMENTARY REPUBLIC

the same. Sometimes in the past they had
been orange, white, and blue, sometimes red,
white, and blue ; but hereafter only the simple
colors red, white, and blue were used.

In France, Louis XIV. was the mighty
king, whose ambition was to make all Europe
French. He sent his armies to America and
India, and his fleets into the Mediterranean, to
carry out his plans of conquest. A triple alli-
ance was formed in 1668 between Great Brit-
ain, the Netherlands, and Sweden to curb the
French king's power, and keep the peace of
Europe. Yet soon after this, the English king,
Charles II., always treacherous, made alliance
with Louis XIV. to destroy the Dutch repub-
lic. Sweden also withdrew from the compact,
so that little Holland was left alone to figh't the
greatest of European monarchies and kings.
The cause of liberty seemed under hopeless
eclipse.

It was a bad time for the Hollanders ; for
through DeWitt's influence, the two offices of
stadholder, or president, and of the commander-
in-chief of the army of the union, hitherto held
by the prince of Orange, were separated. This
was done under a law, passed in 1667, called
the " Perpetual Edict," which prevented any
army or naval officer from ever receiving the
251

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

appointment. This action made the Orairge
party intensely angry.

The country being thus divided by party
strife, Louis XIV. saw his opportunity and
resolved to crush out the little republic and
make Holland a part of France. He moved
promptly, with a great army, across the Rhine
and invaded the Netherlands in 1672, occupy-
ing city after city. But when near Amsterdam,
the Frenchmen had to stop ; for the city peo-
ple threatened to cut the dikes, let in the sea
water, and drown out the invaders. If neces-
sary, the Amsterdammers proposed to fight
the French tyrant single-handed, rather than
surrender. During this time of the French
invasion, many Dutch farmers, or boers, emi-
grated to South Africa and began the Dutch
republics there.

William III., the young prince of Orange,
who had been born November 4, 1650, eight
days after the death of his father, came into
public notice, and high hopes of his abilities
arose in the Dutch nation. The states of Hol-
land repealed the Perpetual Edict, and, with
Zeeland, elected William III. stadholder and
commander-in-chief of the union, so that the
two offices of civil executive and commander
of the army and navy were united in the per-

252

THE PARLIAMENTARY REPUBLIC

son of William III., very much as they are
in the office of the President of the United
States.

In The Hague a terrific riot broke out.
Thousands of the country people, who favored
the house of Orange, came into the city on
the 2oth of August, 1672, and joined with the
mob which rushed to the gate called the Ge-
vangepoort. Within the prison, and very ill,
lay Cornelius DeWitt, whose brother John
came in a carriage to visit him. The rioters
dragged out the two brothers into the street,
where they first murdered them, and then tore
their bodies to pieces. Thus perished miser-
ably two good men, among the noblest in
Dutch history. It was proved again that the
rage of the mob and popular villainy and
cruelty were equal to those of kings and des-
pots.

253

CHAPTER XXVII

DUTCH STADHOLDER AND BRITISH KING

It was a dark time for young William III.,
who hated tyrants and loved freedom and
government in which the people had at least
some voice. He knew that tribes and nations
had existed before kings were heard of, that
the Dutch had been free men and proud of
their liberty when such royal families as the
Stuarts and Bourbons were nobodies. William
was determined to save his country.

Yet what could he do ? It looked as though
the tyrants of England and France had com-
bined to strangle the liberty-loving Nether-
lands, and that both the house of Orange and
the Dutch republic were to be swept off the
earth. At home, his two admirals, DeRuyter
and Tromp, were estranged, and the two po-
litical parties were divided and bitter against
each other.

Then William showed himself the man for
the hour, the reconciler, and the restorer of
strength and union. By his wisdom and tact,

254

DUTCH STADHOLDER AND BRITISH KING

Tromp and DeRuyter were made friends. In
one great naval battle off the coast of Zeeland,
and in another off the Helder, the Dutch won
two victories at home. Across the Atlantic,
in 1674, New York was captured by Admiral
Evertson. Nearly three thousand prize-ships
were taken by the Dutch privateers. In one
of the combats in this war, when the English
admiral, Sprague, tried to go in the open water
from one vessel to another, his boat was struck
by a cannon ball and he was drowned. As the
final result of this naval war, the Parliament of
England compelled Charles II. to stop fight-
ing, France gave up the three Netherland
provinces which had been conquered, and the
Dutch republic was safe once more.

In the reaction from having no stadholder,
the Dutch now went to the other extreme.
They wanted to make the stadholderate, or
presidency, hereditary. This would have given
the republic a ruler very much like a king,
instead of one with an office like that of
President of the United States, which is elec-
tive, impeachable, and not hereditary. When
twenty-five years old. Prince William of Orange
married Mary, the daughter of the duke of
York, who afterwards became King James II.
He did not marry her because he loved her,
255

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

but because she was the possible heir to the
British throne, and William wanted the alli-
ance of Great Britain to prevent Louis XIV.
from carrying out his design of conquering
the Netherlands. His was a political mar-
riage. Yet he later learned to love Mary very
tenderly for her own sake.

A new triple alliance was formed in 1686,
and William became the head of it. The
German empire, the Dutch republic, and Savoy
joined forces against France. To these coun-
tries and to England, thousands of French
people of the Reformed religion had fled and
were ready to fight against the Bourbon king,
Louis. When the duke of York became King
James XL, he proved himself the worst king
England ever had. His unlawful acts encour-
aged the people to revolt against him and his
heirs. When William saw that King James
was becoming an ally of Louis XIV., he took
the side of the English people and maintained
the rights of his wife to the British throne.
By the year 1688, the English people were
ready to drive their king out of the country.
They therefore invited the Dutch AMUiam to
come over and be their deliverer. Gathering
a fine army of Huguenot and Dutch troops,
William crossed over the sea, landed at Tor-
256

DUTCH STADHOLDER AND BRITISH KING

bay, and marched to London, while James II.
fled the country to France. The Enghsh peo-
ple now excluded all Catholic Stuarts from
the government, which they placed in the
hands of the royal pair, William and Mary.

England received great benefit from a king
who had republican ideas. The English did
not like William personally, and they thought
he put too many Dutchmen into high offices,
but they admired his character. William, like
his ancestor the Silent, was not much of a
soldier, but a most excellent ruler. At sea,
the Dutch and English men-of-war drove off
the French fleet which was trying to carry an
army, led by King James, into Ireland. The
enemies of Britain and Holland were com-
pelled to seek peace. In 1697, at Ryswick,
near The Hague, a great treaty was made
which ended the war of nine years.

William was never very strong in body. He
broke down from overwork, and a fall from
his horse caused his death on March 8, 1 702 ;
but the Dutch still kept up an army, which
fought with the English in the war called the
Spanish Succession.

No children were born of William III. and
Queen Mary, so the direct male line of the
house of Orange, from William the Silent,
257

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

came to an end. In England, George I., great
grandson of James I., became king in 1714.

The headship of the house of Orange-Nassau
now passed over to John William Friso, stad-
holder of Friesland. A grandson of Count
John of Nassau, brother of William the Silent,
had married Albertina Agnes, the daughter of
Prince Frederick Henry, and thus the grand-
daughter of William. The result of this union
was the son who now became the head of the
house of Orange, and it is from him that the
royal family of the modern Netherlands and
Queen Wilhelmina are descended. In 1711,
when but twenty-four years old, he was drowned
at Moerdyk. His son, William Charles Henry
Friso, was bom a few weeks after his father's
death. At seven years of age, he became the
hereditary stadholder of Friesland, and later,
through the zeal of the partisans of the house
of Orange, was made stadholder of Groningen
and Drenthe when only eleven years old. In
1733, the prince, then twenty-three years old,
took as his bride Anne, daughter of George II.,
from the royal house of Great Britain, which
at this time was not French or Dutch, but
German and from Hanover. Thus in the
prince of Orange and his wife Dutch and
German became one, reuniting two ancestral

258

WILLIAM v., HEREDITARY STADHOLDER

DUTCH STADHOLDER AND BRITISH KING

lines originally from the German fatherland.
In Holland many people were very much
afraid that the prince would, by fair means or
foul, make himself stadholder of all the pro-
vinces and be virtually a king.

During this period, there were wars in other
parts of Europe, and the Belgic Netherlands,
then under the rule of Maria Theresa of Aus-
tria, were invaded. Holland joined the quad-
ruple alliance of the Emperor, Great Britain,
and France against the designs of Spain,
Later in 1 747, when parties had changed and
the king of France was about to invade Dutch
territory, the partisans of the house of Orange
succeeded in getting the prince of Orange
proclaimed stadholder, first of Zeeland, then
of Holland, and finally of all the united pro-
vinces.

There had been no stadholder of all the
United States of the Netherlands from 1702
to 1747, and now when the office was resumed,
it became a menace to the liberties of the
nation.

Many patriotic Netherlanders grieved that
their prince, William IV., had married into a
royal family ; for he began to put on all the
airs and to assume the powers of a king. In
1747, his office was made hereditary, and very
259

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

soon the republic of the Netherlands was one
only in name. Yet he himself was so devoted
to good plans and purposes for the benefit of
the people that when he died in 1751, only-
forty years of age, the people grieved deeply
and sincerely over him, because they felt that
in him they had lost a good friend.

The new ruler, William V., became such
when he was a little boy only three years old.
He was destined to be the last stadholder of
the Netherlands and to live to see the republic
pass away. His lifetime was one of great
interest to all English-speaking people ; for it
touched American and British history, as we
shall see. Within it occurred the events of
Braddock's defeat, the capture of Louisburg,
the rise of George Washington, the battle of
Lake George, the capture of Forts DuQuesne,
Niagara, Crown Point, and Ticonderoga from
the French, and that victory of General Wolfe
over Montcalm, on the Heights of Abraham,
which decided that North America was to be
English speaking and follow the ideas of Teu-
tonic, and not of Latin civilization.

In the war between Great Britain and Spain,
many battles were fought in the southern or
Belgian Netherlands, and there were great
naval campaigns in the West Indies under

260

DUTCH STADHOLDER AND BRITISH KING

Admiral Vernon. As many American young
men were educated in England, those who
expected to follow a military career served
with the British army in Flanders and gained
much experience which fitted them afterwards
for the War of the Revolution.

In the West Indies, several companies of
Virginians fought, with the British sailors and
soldiers, against the Spaniards, in some cases
landing at the same spots made famous in the
Spanish-American war of 1898. Among the
Virginia ofificers was Lawrence Washington,
who named his home on the Potomac, after
the admiral. Mount Vernon. He brought
home with him, also, a Dutch officer, Jacob
Van Braam, who became young George Wash-
ington's military instructor, and marched with
him into Pennsylvania and Ohio.

261

CHAPTER XXVIII
THE TWO REPUBLICS — DUTCH AND AMERICAN

The little boy who was to be William V. was
put under the care of his mother Anna, who
thus became regent of Holland. She was the
daughter of George II. of England. She lived
until 1759. During her lifetime, and for long
years afterwards, Holland was little more than
an annex of Great Britain. The government
at The Hague had to think pretty much as
King George suggested, and to act obediently
to his beck and nod.

Yet when, but eighteen years of age, in 1766,
the young prince of Orange married, he did
not find his wife in England, but in Germany,
his bride being a niece of Frederick the Great
of Prussia. He was a weak ruler and greatly
under the influence of his stronger minded
wife and her German relatives. During his
long rule, from 1756 to 1795, things in Hol-
land seemed to go from bad to worse.

When the American war broke out. Sir
Joseph Yorke, the British minister, wanted the

262

TWO REPUBLICS — DUTCH AND AMERICAN

republic to do everything to favor the British
cause, but from the beginning the sympathies
of the Dutch people were with the Americans.
The first salute ever fired in honor of the
American flag, even before it had any stars
in its field, was given by de Graeff at St. Eusta-
cius in the West Indies, on November i6,
1776.

The Dutch saw clearly that our war with
Great Britain was very much like their own
revolt for independence against Spain. Their
government was very much like ours ; that is,
several provinces had become states and formed
one federal republic, with the red, white, and
blue flag, with a written constitution, and with
a declaration of independence. They had de-
posed their king because they would not sub-
mit to taxes which they themselves did not
vote.

There were many prominent and active
friends of America in the Netherlands, and
these were led by Baron Van der Capellen.
King George III. wrote a letter to the stad-
holder, the prince of Orange, demanding that
the Scotch brigade, which had served in the
Dutch army for over two hundred years, should
be returned to the British service, to be sent to
fight the Americans, but Baron Van der Ca-
263

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

pellen in the States-General strongly opposed
this. The British government heard that the
Dutch governor in the West Indies, Johannes
de Graeff, had saluted our flag, and was furnish-
ing supplies to Washington's army. Through
Sir Joseph Yorke, at The Hague, a demand
was made that he be called home and pun-
ished for encouraging rebels. Having great
influence with the stadholder and the States-
General, Yorke secured the passage of a law
prohibiting any convoy, or protection by men-
of-war, to Dutch vessels laden with materials
for shipbuilding. This nearly ruined the ship-
building trade of Holland, and the dockyards
lay idle until grass grew in them; but the
friends of America multiplied.

When Commodore Paul Jones brought his
prize, the British frigate Serapis, into the
Texel, in 1779, a song, "Here comes Paul
Jones," was sung all over the country in his
praise. Van Berckel, of Amsterdam, having
proposed to open trade directly with America,
the Continental Congress at Philadelphia sent
commissioners to Holland to make a treaty.
When Sir Joseph Yorke found this out, he
asked that Van Berckel be punished. His
request was refused. Then Great Britain de-
clared war against Holland. This was done a

264

TWO REPUBLICS — DUTCH AND AMERICAN

whole week before her action was known at
The Hague, and when hundreds of Dutch
ships lay at anchor in the ports of England.
These were all captured. Thus heavily had
little Holland to pay for her friendship with
the United States. A naval battle was fought
off the Doggerbank, in the North Sea, in which
the Dutch fleet under Admiral Zoutman drove
off the British fleet under Admiral Parker.

Nevertheless, the Netherlanders were obliged
to make a disgraceful treaty with Great Britain.
Their envoys not being invited to sit at the
congress in Paris, which was to make a gen-
eral peace and recognize the United States of
America, they had to come of their own accord.
They received no satisfaction ; for none could
be obtained.

The trouble with the country was that the
Dutch had got " too fat to fight," or to de-
fend themselves, and the quarrels between the
Orange and the anti-Orange factions were
more bitter than ever. Party rancor was mis-
taken for patriotism. Some of the more ear-
nest of their leaders began to inquire into the
cause of the nation's weakness. One gentle-
man, named Adrian Van der Kemp, had, in
1 781, written an anonymous letter, addressed
to the people of the Netherlands, in which he
265

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

suggested that the government should be a
democracy, and all power be put directly into
the hands of the people. He would have the
stadholder give up his hereditary claim, abolish
the power of the city regents or governors, and
have the functions of government so distrib-
uted, under the executive, legislature, and judi-
ciary, that one branch would check and control
the others, while the people should have a direct
vote in all important affairs.

This letter, published in pamphlet form, was
widely perused and everywhere discussed, but
it made the Orange party very angry. Both
the prince of Orange and the legislature of
Holland offered large rewards for the discovery
of the author. But for many, many years no
one ever found out who was the true author,
though Van der Kemp was suspected. He
afterwards came to America and founded the
town of Barneveldt, now Trenton, N. Y., and
surveyed the route of the Erie Canal.

The people were now divided into Orange
and anti-Orange parties, the latter also call-
ing themselves Patriots. Many of these, like
Daendels, went into France to watch events,
and when the opportunity should Come, to
march into Holland.

366

CHAPTER XXIX

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC

When the Patriots tried to lessen the power
of the tyrannical stadholder and to have a more
popular government, Great Britain, France,
and Prussia interfered to keep the prince of
Orange in full power, and thus to destroy the
republic. The Patriots hoped that the French
would help them ; but France, professing not
to be able, declined. This encouraged the king
of Prussia to meddle still further in Dutch
affairs. Through his envoy, he persuaded his
daughter, the princess, in 1784, to ride from
Nymegen in her carriage to The Hague, where
she should make the Patriots beg her pardon.
The Patriots stopped her carriage and sent
her back to Nymegen. This was exactly what
the king of Prussia wanted — an excuse for
active interference. Twenty thousand of his
troops marched at once into the Netherlands.
The stadholder entered The Hague and was
welcomed by the people, while streets, houses,
and churches were almost covered with masses
of orange cloth and ribbons.
267

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

During all this disgraceful civil war, for it
was nothing less, the partisans of one side were
called by their enemies " Oranje Klants," that
is. Orange fellows or " chappies," those of the
other party being stigmatized as " Keezen."
When the Keezen were in power, they refused
to let the Orangeists show anything having
their colors, whether badges, clothes, flags, or
even things good to eat. When carrots were
sold in market, the green tops must be laid
forward and the root ends out of sight. The
Keezen seemed to be as wild on the subject of
the orange color as are bulls when a red flag
is shaken before them. Now, however, when
the Orangemen were in power, they compelled
the wearing of the Orange cockade and badges,
and flaunted the gay color in every form. The
Prussians overran the whole country and even
conquered Amsterdam, which, for the first time
in its history, was occupied by a foreign army.

Thus again dark days had fallen upon Hol-
land, and things seemed as bad as in the age
of Spanish tyranny. The Dutch republic was
little more than a province, ruled by Prussia
and England. Hundreds of the Patriot leaders
had left the country to find refuge in France
or the United States. Commerce was almost
dead, and public spirit never lower. The

268

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC

Dutch seemed to care nothing about what was
going on in Europe.

In Paris the French Revolution had broken
out. When the French army marched into
the Belgian Netherlands, there was danger
that a quarrel between the Dutch and French
would soon ensue, and the country be invaded
and conquered. In 1648, when the Dutch had
won their victory over Spain, they demanded
that the river Scheldt should be closed, and
that no seagoing ships should pass in or out
of the river. Their object was to prevent the
Belgian Netherlands from having any for-
eign commerce, so that Antwerp might re-
main poor and small, and Amsterdam get rich.
Now, in 1792, the French wanted to send
their vessels up and down the river Scheldt.
The Dutch tried to prevent them and at once
there was cause for quarreling ; for the French
insisted upon free navigation. When the
prince of Orange, agreeing with the British
king, treated the French envoys with con-
tempt, France declared war against Great
Britain and the Netherlands. Although some
British troops were sent over to help the
Dutch, and especially the prince of Orange,
they accomplished little or nothing.

Just as the Orange party had invited the
269

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

Prussian invaders seven years before, so now,
in 1793, the long persecuted Patriots were
ready to welcome the French invaders. All
over the country there were formed what were
called " reading societies." In reality, these
were revolutionary committees, which were
ready to welcome the French when they should
come. The unusually cold season of 1794
and 1795, still called "the French winter,"
froze all the rivers and inland waters, and thus,
instead of being the barrier to an enemy,
these furnished bridges. The French rushed
over the ice, with their artillery and troops,
seized the fortresses, drove off the garrisons,
and soon reached the heart of the. country. It
seemed odd, that with cavalry they should
capture ships frozen in, so as to be helpless, in
the Zuyder Zee, but this was actually done.
The dragoons made prizes of the vessels.

At Willemstad, a fortress in North Brabant
on the Holland Deep, built by the prince of
Orange in 1583, the French found an obstacle.
For two weeks, with red-hot shot and shell,
they bombarded the place without success.
Defended by the valor and skill of Baron Van
Boetselaer, the adjutant-general of the stad-
holder William V., Willemstad held out. A
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THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC

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home for children at Oberlin, Ohio.

When the city of Utrecht had fallen, the
States-General assembled at The Hague and
sent a delegation to the stadholder, asking
mournfully whether anything could yet be
done for the defense of Holland. He gave a
discouraging answer, saying that nothing would
avail. He also informed them that he would
quit the country. About two o'clock on that
day, bidding farewell to his legislators, having
already sent the princess and his daughter
over to England, he got on board a fishing
vessel to leave Holland.

A great crowd of people had gathered at
Scheveningen on the seacoast to take fare-
well of their ruler. As the boat was some
distance out, the prince of Orange started to
wade in the water to the boat. Then Bentinck,
his prime minister, called out to the people,
'' What, will you allow your prince to leave you
in this way ? " Thereupon some men imme-
diately hoisted him on their shoulders, walked
into the water, and set him on board the ship.
There he remained, to get word from Paris.
When the letters came, the order was that the
prince of Orange should leave the country, or
else the French would not make peace with
271

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

the States-General. Thus the last stadholder
sailed away to England, landing the next day
at Harwich. When he left The Hague, the
envoys of Great Britain, Prussia, Spain, Italy,
and Hanover departed also.

In all modern Dutch history, Amsterdam,
being the largest city, has usually led the
way in war or peace. The Dutch republican
general, Daendels, was one of the emigrants
who had fled to France, and of whom there
were a great many like himself then in the
French camp. He sent word to the burgo-
master, promising peace and safety if the city
was surrendered, but massacre if they refused.
The regents, or city rulers, agreed to yield.
On the same evening, the members of the
revolutionary committee, gathering together by
torchlight, assembled the people in the great
broad square, called the Dam, in front of the
city hall. Standing on the steps, they pro-
claimed the Revolution, urging the people to
treat the French soldiers well. During the
night, which was very quiet. General Daendels
with a few hussars entered the city and took a
seat with the revolutionary committee. This
was now a permanent body, which, after dis-
missing the city council, assumed charge of
the government of Amsterdam.

272

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC

The stadholders of the United Netherlands
were as follows : —

Of Holland.
William I., 1559-1584.
Maurice, 1585-1625.
Frederick Henry, 1625-1647.
William II., 1647-1650.
William III., 1672-1702.

General Hereditary Stadholders,
William IV., 1 747-1 751.
William v., 1766-1795.

273

CHAPTER XXX

THE BATAVIAN REPUBLIC AND THE KINGDOM OF
HOLLAND

Now began some lively scenes on the Dam,
and what was done in Amsterdam was imi-
tated all over the country. Early the next
morning, a pole, representing the tree of liberty,
was planted in the centre of the square. On
top of this was a high hat, with the revolution-
ary cockade and the tri-color, red, white, and
blue, stuck in it. Thousands of people, men,
women, and children, joined hands together in
a circle and danced under it, singing, making
merry, and shouting, " Liberty, equality, and
fraternity."

From the steps of one of the public build-
ings, a proclamation was made that the city
government had obeyed the will of the people.
When twenty-one names were read out as
provisional popular representatives, the great
crowd shouted their assent. This was sup-
posed to be their vote, and the Dam was called
the " Plain of Liberty."
274

THE BATAVIAN REPUBLIC

Another committee was formed of delegates
from committees in the provinces, and this
united revolutionary committee completed the
work throughout the country. Thus, before
any French soldiers arrived, " the people " had
changed their old city governments, put in new
officers, and decorated themselves with the
French cockade. The " Batavian republic "
was proclaimed.

On the 2 2d of January, 1795, Generals Piche-
gru and Moreau made their entrance into
The Hague, where they were received with
enthusiasm. In Zeeland, the states legislature
changed their names from " noble and mighty
lords " to that of " representatives of the peo-
ple of Zeeland," and headed their acts with the
motto, " Liberty, equality, and fraternity."

Now began a period of eighteen years of
French rule, in which some things good were
done and numerous things foolish attempted.
The methods of government were completely
changed, and many old customs swept away.
Hereditary nobility, the wearing of liveries,
escutcheons, ornaments of heraldry, and all mo-
nopolies and special privileges were abolished.
Marriage was made a secular contract. Every-
thing that seemed to show social inequalities
was changed. The gallows and whipping-posts
275

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

in the country were destroyed as relics of old
barbarism, and opposed to the dignity of man-
kind. Along with these went the total abo-
lition of torture. Reform in almost everything
was the order of the day. In the museums of
the Netherlands, one may look upon interesting
relics of the old privileges and monopolies,
which came to an end in 1795. The stu-
dent in the archives notes what simplicity the
French introduced into the maze and confu-
sion that existed under the old republic.

The Dutch people had to pay dearly for
the liberty brought them by their French de-
liverers. They were obliged to feed and clothe
the French armies, and to take their worthless
paper money. Much of the charm and sweet-
ness of the old life passed away forever, and
the new order of things was very distasteful to
many.

When Napoleon Bonaparte became first
consul, or ruler of France, the Dutch found in
him a still more terrible master. Their finest
young men had to enlist under the French
eagles and fight Napoleon's battles. In 1797,
the British fleet under Admiral Duncan block-
aded the Texel, the great northern outlet to
the Zuyder Zee, through which all the com-
merce from Amsterdam and several other

276

THE BATAVIAN REPUBLIC

cities entered and departed. The shipping
business at once stopped and the price of food
rose. When the Dutch fleet under Admiral
Winter tried to break up this blockade, it was
met by Admiral Duncan who, with his heavy
British ships and cannon, captured several of
the Dutch war vessels and scattered the re-
mainder. This battle was fought off the village
called Camperduin, or " the camp amid the
dunes," and ever since there has been a vessel
in the British navy called " Camperdown," in
remembrance of this great victory.

Two years later, an army of nearly twenty-five
thousand Russian and British troops landed in
North Holland at Kijkduin, well named " a
peep in the dunes." To the surprise of the
invaders, the Dutch folks were not very anxious
to welcome their deliverers. The allied army
was defeated by the French skillfully massed
together ; for the Russians had lost their way,
while the English had to retreat before superior
numbers. In 1901, with impressive ceremonies,
a monument in' the form of a triple-arrned
Russian cross was erected at the burial place
of the Czar's soldiers.

In 1805, Napoleon himself visited his new
possessions ; for Holland had now become little
else than a province of France. He entered
277

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

Amsterdam and traveled to the end of North
Holland, opposite Texel Island. At this place,
called Den Helder, he determined to build a
great naval station. He set his Spanish pris-
oners at work digging and hauling, pile-driving
and pounding, until great docks and dikes
were built and forts were made. By these
labors Den Helder became one of the strong-
est places in Holland. It is still the chief naval
station of the kingdom. Under Napoleon, the
Dutch pensionary became almost like a king.
There were three political parties among the
Dutch politicians, named the Unitaries, Fed-
eralists, and Democrats, the last being few in
number.

Napoleon, having studied the geography of
the Netherlands, saw that the country had
been made by the mud brought down from the
rivers of Germany and France. He therefore
considered that Dutch soil was a natural part
of France, so that he felt free to change the
constitution of the country. In 1807, he made
the Dutch State a kingdom, that is, the king-
dom of Holland, and set on the throne his
brother Louis as the king. Louis was a good
man and endeavored to be a just ruler. The
people were in poverty and suffering. Louis
tried to make the country rich and food cheap,

278

THE KINGDOM OF HOLLAND

It was about this time that the Dutch began to
cultivate chicory, to mix with or to use instead
of coffee. Indeed, King Louis favored those
who love to drink this cheering beverage ; for
he appointed Herman Daendels to be gov-
ernor-general of the East Indies. This wise
and able man had forty-five millions of coffee-
trees planted, and otherwise greatly improved
the Dutch possessions.

The Dutch having a king must also now
have a palace. So the beautiful city hall in
Amsterdam, which had been built in 1648, to
celebrate the completion of the war with Spain,
and which rested on thirteen thousand piles,
was made the palace, and it is still called the
" Paleis." Yet, although it is exactly the right
sort of a building for a city hall, it is not fitted
to be a king's dwelling. As all citizens of the
republic had equal rights, so all the doors front-
ing the Dam are of the same size. There is
no special entrance for privileged persons, like
kings or queens. It must be remembered that
the Dutch had no kings or queens before the
nineteenth century, though they had counts
and other feudal officers under the Empire.
Hence, when the queen comes, or royalty visits
the Paleis, they decorate the door of entrance
with a red velvet baldachin.
279

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

King Louis, whose wife was Hortense,
daughter of the Empress Josephine, and whose
son became Napoleon III., lived most of the
time at the Pavilion near Haarlem ; but often
during the warmer months he retired to Het
Loo, which has since been the summer resi-
dence of Dutch royalty. The Royal Institute
of science, letters, and fine arts was established
in 1808. Everyone thought the popular King
Louis would long reign over the nation, but in
18 10 he resigned, refusing to be a mere tool in
the hands of his brother in Paris.

Then Napoleon Bonaparte abolished the
kingdom of Holland, making the Netherlands
a part of the French empire, and divided the
country into seven departments. He tried to
change the Dutch into French people, en-
couraging and almost compelling them to
adopt the customs, manners, tastes, and ideas
of France. Amsterdam was called the third
city of the French empire, and the Code
Napoleon was made the law of the land. The
conscription was enforced on all males above
twenty years of age, so that one fifth of the
whole population became soldiers. Fifteen
thousand young Dutchmen marched, with Na-
poleon's mighty army, to disaster at Moscow.
The two universities of Harderwijk and of

280

THE KINGDOM OF HOLLAND

Franeker were suppressed, and those at Utrecht
and Amsterdam were reduced to the grade of
secondary schools. The French prohibition
of English goods raised the cost of the neces-
saries of life, so that the Dutchman's coffee and
sugar became too dear for poor folks to buy.
Beets were extensively cultivated, and sugar,
made from these roots, took the place of that
made from sugar cane. The day of the gen-
eral use of cocoa and chocolate had not yet
come.

Although the British could not at first win in
the field against Napoleon, who had, by 1809,
forced Prussia, Russia, and Austria to acknow-
ledge his power, they attempted to capture Ant-
werp. A mighty fleet of nearly two hundred
ships, with over forty thousand soldiers, was
sent up the river Scheldt, but instead of going
straight on, as he had been ordered, the Brit-
ish commander stopped to bombard Flushing.
This took much time, and when the troops
were landed on the island of Walcheren, they
spent a whole month among the marshes,
where thousands of them were struck down
with malarial fever. One half the army died,
and the whole expedition proved a failure.
To-day one can find the village graveyards of
Zeeland thickly sown with the tombstones of

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

British soldiers and officers, who perished in
this wretched and wasteful campaign.

These formed but a portion of that large
number of thirty-two million men, which a
German military officer reckons to have been
slain in battle or who died of wounds or dis-
ease in the wars of the nineteenth century.
On the other hand, thousands of Dutch lads,
or " conscripts " as they were called, lost their
lives in the awful sufferings during the retreat
from Moscow, yet " the man of destiny " still
wanted more soldiers. This frightful loss of
life and great suffering, together with the con-
stant intermeddling of Napoleon with the edu-
cation and customs of the country, made the
Dutchmen think him a tyrant. They were
very bitter against his rule and were prepared
to revolt as soon as they had a good oppor-
tunity. Having won their land from the sea,
they wanted to own and to govern it them-
selves.

282

CHAPTER XXXI

"the dutch have taken Holland"

The Hollanders had not long to wait. The
allies, Austria, Bavaria, Russia, Prussia, and
Sweden, raised an army of three hundred thou-
sand men and determined to crush Napoleon.
At Leipsic, during the three days' battle, from
October i6 to 19, 18 13, Napoleon was de-
feated, and, in the next campaign, France was
invaded. Early in April, 18 14, the combined
German, British, and Russian armies entered
Paris. Napoleon was exiled and the count of
Provence was made King Louis XVIII.

The government of this Bourbon prince was
very bad. Napoleon left Elba and, landing in
France, reached Paris on March 20, 181 5.
He called on the French people to rally around
him. In June, he commanded an army of two
hundred thousand men, but by this time all
Europe was determined to end the career of a
man whom they believed to be an enemy to
civilization. Seven hundred thousand soldiers
were put into the field.
383

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

At Brussels, by the middle of June, the
duke of Wellington had over one hundred
thousand men, consisting of British, Germans,
Hollanders, and Belgians. The Dutchmen,
heartily disgusted with French rule and con-
sidering Napoleon a tyrant, had enlisted in
large numbers to fight against him. The
Prussian force, numbering over one hundred
thousand men commanded by Marshal Bliicher,
was marching to join the British. Napoleon
hoped to prevent the union of the two armies.
He planned to attack and defeat each one in
succession ; but this he was unable to do.
Worn out with fatigue and illness, and no
longer possessing his former great powers
of mind and body, he lost the battle of Water-
loo, which was fought June i8, 1815. The
French army was utterly broken, and Napoleon
rode away, to finish with a journey to St.
Helena.

On this famous field, the younger prince of
Orange and his Dutch soldiers fought like
heroes and performed prodigies of valor, so
that their countrjmien at home were filled with
enthusiasm. Everything was now ripe in Hol-
land for the Dutch to rise up, drive out the
French, and regain their own country.

Word was sent over to England, where Wil-
284

FOUNDERS OF THE CONSTITUTION

"THE DUTCH HAVE TAKEN HOLLAND"

liam Frederick, the son of the last stadholder,
William V., was living, to get ready to come
back to Holland. Several famous Dutch states-
men, Hoogendorp, Stirum, Maasden, Falk,
Fagel, and Perponcher, had arranged the de-
tails of a new government. On November 30,
the prince of Orange, who was to be King
William I., arrived in Holland. As he said he
would enter the country as his father had left
it, he sailed in a fishing smack from England,
and, before a great crowd of people assembled
at Scheveningen, he was carried ashore on the
shoulders of some stalwart fishermen.

While the Dutch were getting ready to
break the Gallic yoke, several signs gave the
Frenchmen a hint of what was coming, al-
though they did not at first understand what
these popular demonstrations meant. The
emblems of Napoleon's authority, and even
the statues and government property, were
smeared with orange paint. The men who
did these things could not be found, but those
who understood the meaning of the act knew
that the Dutchmen were determined to have
their own rulers back again, and that the
French would soon be driven out of the coun-
try.

The Dutch had never been used to kings.
285

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

In olden time, the Netherlands formed part of
the German empire, but in the country itself
they had no officers higher than barons and
counts. Although now a king was to be at the
head of the government, the people were to
have more freedom than their fathers enjoyed
under the old republic ; for he was to be a con-
stitutional ruler. Indeed, in a national con-
vention, a constitution was first written out and
agreed upon, and then the prince of Orange
was invited to come and obey it.

This instrument, called the fifth constitution,
was made by a congress of the notable men of
the land, who assembled in the New Church
at Amsterdam March 29, 18 14, and voted it.
Under it there were to be two houses of the
national legislature, freedom of religion, and
the equality of all before ther law. The bound-
aries of the nine provinces were fixed. North
Brabant and Limburg were not then a part of
the kingdom.

In the old New Church in Amsterdam, built
in the year 1408, the prince of Orange was
solemnly inaugurated king as William I. The
ancient edifice was hung with flags, banners,
and tapestry, while around and fronting the
king stood the chief men and women of Hol-
land, in the costume of the period, making

286

"THE DUTCH HAVE TAKEN HOLLAND"

a brilliant picture. With the little country once
more in their possession, and their foreign mas-
ters driven out, all Europe was electrified by
the news, and laughed at the announcement,
that " the Dutch have taken Holland."

287

CHAPTER XXXII

BELGIUM AND HOLLAND UNITED AND SEPARATED

A CONGRESS of European powers was held after
the battle of Waterloo, and it was decided that
Belgium and Holland should be united in a
single kingdom, over which King William I. of
Holland was to rule. Again, as in the old days
before the troubles with Spain and the war
of independence, and from 1576 to 1579, the
seventeen provinces of the Netherlands became
one domain.

Yet the new union was a weak and poor
one. The two nations were not alike, and are
still quite different, in religion, manners, ideas,
and interests. The people of the northern
Netherlands, usually spoken of as Holland,
were Protestants, active in manufactures and
commerce, spoke Dutch, and were strongly
democratic in ideas. Those of the southern or
Belgian Netherlands were Roman Catholic in
religion, most of the people spoke French, and
were agricultural and manufacturing. Besides
two languages and two strains of blood, Flem-

288

BELGIUM AND HOLLAND

ish and Walloon, the people were much under
the control of their priests.

King William I. was far from being a wise
ruler, and soon became unpopular with the Bel-
gians. When that revolution broke out in Paris
which drove out the Bourbon king, Charles X.,
and set up Louis Philippe, there was trouble in
Belgium, which finally exploded in 1830. Ex-
cited by the words and music of the French
Marseillaise, the mob plundered the house of
the Dutch minister and hoisted the old colors
of Brabant, now Belgium's tri-color flag of
black, yellow, and red. All over the country
the people rose up to drive out the Dutch army.
A provisional government was formed and the
European congress, meeting in London, de-
creed the separation of the two countries.

In the field there was a " Ten Days' Cam-
paign," with some little skirmishing, but not
many lives were lost. On the water the daring
bravery of Van Spijk is well remembered. He
had been an orphan boy, reared in the orphan-
age of the city of Amsterdam, and educated for
the navy. In February, 1831, while in com-
mand of a Dutch gunboat at Antwerp, he saw
hundreds of Belgians coming in boats to cap-
ture his vessel. Knowing that he would lose
his little ship, he ran to the powder magazine,
2S9

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

fired his pistol into it, and the ship was blown
up. To-day, in Amsterdam, one can see in
the parlor of the orphan house his sword and
accoutrements, and at Egmond-aan-Zee there
is a bronze lion to his honor. On the Dam,
fronting the palace in Amsterdam, is the monu-
ment of the Iron Cross, in honor of those
Dutchmen who were killed in this war, and
there is in Brussels a memorial to the Belgians
slain at the same time. Limburg was given to
Holland, as one of her provinces, making, with
North Brabant, eleven in all. In 1839, the
river Scheldt, which since 1648 had been shut
up from foreign commerce, was fully opened to
the world. In 1863, all river dues were abol-
ished. From this time Antwerp became rich
and great, and is now one of the chief seaports
of Europe. In the Place Marnix, one may see
a superb statue erected in 1883, showing how
the opening of the river has been the source of
Antwerp's life and wealth.

King William I. had much money, but was
neither wise nor popular. He resigned in 1 840,
and his son, the prince of Orange, the brave
young military officer who had fought at Wa-
terloo, and was greatly admired by the people,
was made king. He had married the Russian
princess, Anna Paulowna, who won great popu-

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BELGIUM AND HOLLAND

larity in the Netherlands. The new king was
inaugurated in the church at Amsterdam,
November 28, 1840. As usual in the Dutch
inauguration ceremony, there was no crown
set on the king's head, though there was one
"on the table in front of the monarch, the crown
being the symbol of law and government, and
not of personal possession.

The Dutch idea of a king is an ancient, sen-
sible, and Christian one ; it is, that he is the
servant of servants in the kingdom. King
William II. was greatly beloved. He encour-
aged art, stimulated trade, and did that good
work which all true and wise statesmen are
glad to do — kept the old and the new in
harmony, with reverence for the past and hope
for the future.

The Dutch statesmen revised the constitu-
tion, and the new law of the land was published
November 3, 1848. Thorbecke was the prime
minister, and under his direction a great era of
prosperity dawned upon the kingdom.

When king William II. died in 1849, there
was real mourning all through the country.
His kindly face may be seen on the coins, and
his statue at The Hague shows how the peo-
ple appreciated him.

The new ruler, William III., who married
291

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

Sophia, the daughter of the king of Wurtem-
burg, was destined to rule forty-one years,
during an era of great prosperity. A new
force had come into the world, or rather men
had learned to tame an old force. The Dutch-
men no longer waited for the winds to blow^
and turn their windmills and move their boats ;
for steamships on the water and locomotives
on land were the novelties in fashion. With
large steam engines, working mighty pumps,
they drained Haarlem Lake dry, reclaiming
seventy-two square miles of land. Now on its
site there are towns and villages and happy
homes, with ten thousand people living where
once were waters. The Dutch dug long canals,
made new rivers and drained more lakes, in-
creasing the grain, garden, and grazing space
of the country. In all, they have diked hun-
dreds of miles of seacoast and river banks, and,
having pumped out ninety lakes, they may yet
dry up the Zuyder Zee and change it into a
polder, or drained meadow.

King William's reign will always be re-
membered for the general prosperity of the
people, at home and abroad. Besides the in-
habitants dwelling in the fatherland, millions
of the Netherlanders have emigrated to South
Africa, forming what was formerly Orange
292

BELGIUM AND HOLLAND

Free State and the Transvaal Republic, or
have made new homes in the East and West
Indies, or North America.

The Dutch possess the East India archi-
pelago, comprising Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and
various other islands, which are collectively
called Insulinde. They rule this Island India
so well that peace is the general rule, and an
outbreak is quite rare among its thirty-three
million inhabitants.

Several years before King William III. be-
gan his reign, that is about 1844, emigration
to America had begun. Tens of thousands
of Dutch colonists crossed the ocean and
came, by way of the Mohawk valley, or up
the Mississippi river, to the western part of
the United States, where they and their de-
scendants form an important portion of our
population. They settled in Michigan, Wis-
consin, Iowa, Nebraska, and Dakota, and most
of them have made the best kind of Ameri-
cans. During the reign of William III. also,
our countryman, John Lothrop Motley, after
long study in the archives of Spain, France,
Germany, and the Netherlands, wrote the " Rise
of the Dutch Republic," the " History of the
United Netherlands," and the " Life of John
of Barneveldt," telling the story of the Dutch
293

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

nation from 1554 to about 1620, the year in
which the Pilgrim fathers and mothers left
Holland to settle New England.

To King William and Queen Sophia sons
and daughters were born, and for a while it
looked as if there would be plenty of heirs to
the Dutch throne. The queen's drawing-rooms
were famous for the brilliant array of artists,
scholars, and men and women noted for their
part in making the world more beautiful and
better worth living in. Queen Sophia died in
1874, and her children, one after another, fol-
lowed her.

On January 7, 1879, King William married
the Princess Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont On
August 30, 1880, their daughter, Wilhelmina,
was born. The child, delicate at first, grew
up to be strong and healthy, as well as lovable
and beautiful. Before she was ten years old
she became heir apparent, by the death of the
last of the king's sons. Her father, the king,
died shortly after and was buried, as all the
princes of the house of Orange have been, iij
the great church at Delft.

294

CHAPTER XXXIII

THE TWO QUEENS, EMMA AND WILHELMINA

Queen Emma became regent and took charge
of the education of her daughter, who was
trained, as indeed most educated Dutch ladies
and gentlemen are, to speak fluently four lan-
guages, English, German, French, and Dutch.
Her native tongue is one of the strongest and
clearest languages in Europe, with abundance
of first-class literature, and is rich in works of
history, science, poetry, fiction, and almost every
form of literary composition. It is necessary
and pleasant, however, for a queen to talk with
people from other countries.

The young princess spent much of her time
at the beautiful rural palaces of Soestdijk and
Het Loo. She was not only bright and for-
ward in her studies, but rather fond of pets,
especially dogs and horses. When coming to
maidenhood, she, with her mother, visited each
one qf the provinces in turn, enjoying the sights
and the costumes of the peasants, and sharing
the delight of the people. In Friesland, she
295

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

wore the Frisian costume presented to her by
the women of the province. Besides the close-
fitting dress, belt, and chatelaine, she donned
the golden helmet, with its metal rosettes in
front of the ears. The gold " feather," as it is
called, which projects across the forehead, was,
in her case, set with diamonds, the gift of the
Frisian ladies. According as it is worn on the
left or the right, it shows that the wearer is
married or unmarried. In Zeeland, the peasant
women, arrayed in all the different costumes
of the various villages or districts, appeared
before her.

When fifteen years of age, in July, 1895,
at The Hague, she decorated the heroes of
Lombok, who under General Vetter had won
victory in the East Indies.

In Drenthe, at Bailer Kuyl, near Rolde, the
queens were entertained with a tableau in the
leafy woods, which showed how a court of jus-
tice was held and trials for crime deliberated
upon in the primeval days, when there were no
books or written history, but when men's, and
especially women's, memories were strong and
clear. The place was highly appropriate ; for it
is in this region that the greatest number of the
Hunnebedden, or " giants' graves," are found.

In an open space, with the semi-circle of
296

CUEEN UILHELMINA

TWO QUEENS, EMMA AND WILHELMINA

mighty trees in the rear, the chief judge, having
on his head a cap like a coronet and holding
the wand of justice wrapped round with ribbon,
sat on a rock covered with a bearskin. On his
right and left were ranged the six judges, one
of them being the Druid priest dressed in
white, his forehead wreathed with oak leaves,
while the other five were chiefs, stalwart in
figure and armed with heavy swords. Behind
the principal judge stood the armor bearer, with
a lengthy spear and tremendous buckler. Fur-
ther to the left was another tall pole with a
round shield upon it, and on its top the skull
and horns of an ox. Fifty or one hundred
strong men, armed with spears, and their heads
either capped with the old metal helmets of the
Teutonic warriors or bareheaded, with their
hair gathered into a knot, one of them with
outspread wings on his helmet, stood all ready
to carry out the decrees of the judge. To the
left, in the foreground, were seven beautiful
women dressed in white, whose duty it was to
remember what was said. Altogether it was
a spirited reproduction of a scene frequent in
primeval days, when law was unwritten and
there were no prisons, but when justice was
simple and rude, though perhaps thorough.
Besides having an English governess and in-
297

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

structors in the languages, Queen Wilhelmina
' was trained in the religion of the Reformed
Church by the domine, or pastor, of the great
church at The Hague. In history her tutors
were Professor P. J. Blok of Leyden, and others.
She often visited the great Rijks Museum in
Amsterdam, and was there instructed by the
wise men and women who could, with abun-
dant object-lessons, tell her the glorious story
of her ancestors and of the country which she
was to rule. Thus richly endowed in mind and
body, the time drew near when, her eighteenth
year ended, she should be formally inaugurated
as sovereign of the Netherlands. Then the
regency of her mother would end.

The whole country prepared to celebrate
with her ; for their joy was one. All classes
and conditions of the people were eager to take
part in some way. The wealthier people sub-
scribed money and placed in the New Church at
Amsterdam a superb memorial window. This
showed the succession of the house of Orange,
from William the Silent to Wilhelmina. The
life-sized historical figures of the great men
whose names fill the page of the Netherlands
history, and of the women whose energy and
goodness so helped the men, make a glorious
vision of light and color.
298

CHAPTER XXXIV

THE REIGN OF QUEEN WILHELMINA

No sovereign was ever more beloved by her
people than the girl queen, Wilhelmina, who,
as the nineteenth century drew to a close, was
the last scion of the house of Orange ; for all
other heirs in the direct line had passed away.
The close tie of mutual affection between this
illustrious family and the Dutch nation is one
of the grand things in history. On the eve
of the royal inauguration, as Queen Emma
announced in dignified and fitting terms her
intended abdication in favor of her daughter,
so also Wilhelmina wrote what reads like a
love letter " to my people," asking for their
love and loyalty. The New Church in Am-
sterdam, as in the case of her three royal
ancestors, was the place chosen for her to take
her oath of office and to receive the loyal vows
of the ministers.

On the morning of inauguration day, Sep-
tember 6, 1898, the festivities were ushered in
with music in the air. In most of the large
299

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

church spires are chimes of bells, numbering
from a score to a hundred. The players fre-
quently give concerts up in the air, while every
day the bells strike the hours, halves, and quar-
ters, the chimes ringing out a merry tune, a
stanza of a hymn, an operatic air, or some pa-
triotic or lullaby song. On the morning of Sep-
tember 5, initiating " the national honeymoon,"
the carillons in the steeples had begun early.
Amsterdam looked more like fairyland than
an ordinary city. The shops were closed, and
crowds from all the country round filled the
streets with a million of happy people, good
natured, and well behaved.

The mother and daughter, " the king's
widow" and the queen, left The Hague and
arrived in the capital city on the " Y " early
in the afternoon. This was the beginning of
the " joyous entry." Wilhelmina sat with her
mother in an open carriage, smiling to the
people and greeting them with wavings of
her little lace handkerchief, while their throats
became hoarse with shouts of welcome. Arriv-
ing at the great square in front of the palace,
she rode round, and entering the building soon
reappeared on the veranda. Facing her in
welcome were ranged the representatives of
every branch of the military and naval service,

300

THE JOYOUS ENTRY IN

MTO AMSTERDAM, 1898

THE REIGN OF QUEEN WILHELMINA

cavalry, infantry, artillery, engineers, marines,
and sailors, besides a company of young gen-
tlemen dressed in the uniform of the time of
Prince Maurice in the seventeenth century.
These looked as gay and bright as a swarm of
beetles or butterflies. They were armed with
long pikes, and the shotmen had heavy mus-
kets, which, when they fired, they rested on
prongs or supports. Their evolutions attracted
much attention.

After the queen had greeted her loyal de-
fenders, and sabre, rifle, carbine, and pike
had been brought to a " present," the military
filed out and disappeared. For a few minutes
the square was vacant. Then, by the queen's
own order and plan, a signal was given and
the people flowed in from the seven or eight
streets leading into the Dam square, and a
mass of perhaps fifty thousand human beings
filled the space. Again the queen appeared
on the balcony, greeting them all, smiling and
waving her handkerchief, while the myriads
shouted their delight.

The next day was the " coronation." Walk-
ing from the palace to the New Church,
crowded with the elite of the kingdom, the
young queen entered and took her seat in the
throne chair, a picture of radiant health and
301

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

loveliness. She was dressed in white, with train
skirt, over which, and hung from her shoulders,
were four yards of red velvet embroidered with
gold. She had a tiara of diamonds on her
head, jewels at her waist, and the military cor-
don of the order of Orange over her breast. On
the left stood a sultan, rajahs, and vassal rulers,
her dark-skinned subjects from Insulinde, the
East Indies, and deputies from the colonies.
On the right were her ministers of state and
her princely relatives, and in front the members
of the States-General, and chosen guests from
the Netherlands and from many nations.

Just as the fair young queen rose to read
her speech," the clouds broke and the sunlight
streamed in through the lofty Orange memo-
rial window, making radiant her graceful form.
Her enunciation was made with wonderful
clearness, and she was heard all over the
house. She said she would make the words
of her royal father her own, " The house of
Orange can never, no never, do enough for
the Netherlands." At this many eyes, even of
stern men and gray-haired statesmen, over-
flowed. When she closed, with eyes and jew-
eled right hand uplifted to Heaven, with the
prayer, " So help me truly, God Almighty,"
a thrill of joy and hope spread through all
302

THE REIGN OF QUEEN WILHELMINA

hearts. At the signal of the herald, all rose
and shouted, " Live the Queen." Mutual oaths
of loyalty and of faithfulness to the constitu-
tion were exchanged by the queen and her
legislators. The four banners — of the Nether-
lands, of the house of Orange, of North Hol-
land, and of the city of Amsterdam — dipped
in salutation to the sovereign, thus inaugurated,
and the impressive ceremony was over. Then
followed two weeks of royal and popular fes-
tivities and rejoicing.

To honor their queen, the poor people of
Amsterdam had contributed their money and
bought a golden coach, superbly made and
decorated, in which they expected her to ride
to the ceremony. She, however, preferred to
walk under a canopy the few feet between the
doors of the palace and the church, but told
the people that she would reserve the golden
coach until her wedding day. Those who kept
carrier pigeons had sent from the cities, towns,
villages, and hamlets all over the kingdom,
their trained birds to Amsterdam. They were
released, all at one moment, on the day given
up to popular sports, in presence "of the young
queen, to carry home the news.

In all the cities and towns there were deco-
rations and celebrations, banquets and merry-
303

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

making, with parades of the children, but in
Amsterdam and at The Hague, the festivi-
ties reached the acme of glory. The streets,
bridges, houses, and public buildings were
adorned with the red, white, and blue of the
national flag and the orange of their rulers.
The sailors, the soldiers, the mechanics, and
all the different kinds of societies, and even
the orphans and companies of boys and girls,
wished to have some special arch, trophy, or
token of loyalty in some form. The Water
Feast at night, as became the country under
the sea level, was perhaps the most brilliant of
all the outdoor spectacles.

On and over the canals were stretched tens
of thousands of Japanese lanterns and colored
lanips. On the bosom of the river, craft of
every sort, built on the models of many nations,
floated and moved about. Their myriads of
lights were reflected in the water, increasing the
splendor. In the gardens were thousands more
of lamps, set in among the grass and flowers,
while in front of the houses were varied devices
in star and flewer, wreath and blazonry, the lion
of Holland and the arms of the kingdom, pro-
vinces and cities, blossoming in jets of fire.

During the following summer of 1899, the
Peace Congress, called by the Czar of Russia
304

THE REIGN OF QUEEN WILHELMINA

and assembling by invitation at The Hague,
held its sessions at the House in the Wood,
built by Amalia Van Solms, in memory of her
husband, Prince Frederick Henry. Principles
were discussed and rules laid down which
must, in time, mitigate the horrors of war. In
the great church at Delft, exercises were held
in honor of Grotius, the Dutch scholar whose
writings on international law had made the In-
ternational Court of Arbitration possible. Our
ambassador to Germany, Andrew D. White, de-
livered the oration. In the name of the United
States, the Great Pacific Power, a wreath of
silver gilt leaves and palms was laid on the
grave of Grotius.

During the war in South Africa between the
Britons and the Boers, the Dutch looked on
with intense sympathy, but took no part in the
strife, they having long ago retired from the ac-
tive politics of Europe, content to do their part
of the world's work in other ways than in war.

At the polls, during the summer of 1900, the
Anti-Revolutionary party triumphed over the
Liberals, and Dr. Abraham Kuyper was made
premier. He was active in securing peace in
South Africa, and the Dutch gave hearty wel-
come to the Boer generals who visited Holland
in 1902.

305

HISTORY OF HOLLAND

On the 1 6th of October, 1900, Queen Wil-
helmina wrote another little love letter " aan
mijn volk " (" to my people "), announcing her
engagement to Duke Hendrik of Mecklen-
burg-Schwerin. On the 7th of February, 1901,
after riding in her golden coach to the great
church in The Hague, they were united in
marriage according to the ritual of the Re-
formed Dutch Church by the court chaplain,
Dr. Van der Flier. Again for a fortnight the
cities of the Netherlands were in festal array
by day and illuminated at night while the royal
couple celebrated their honeymoon.

In recent years, especially since the celebra-
tions by the Dutch people of the three hun-
dredth anniversary of many a stirring event
of the Eighty Years' War of Independence,
through the stimulus given to the study of
Dutch history by our own historian. Motley,
the endowment of chairs of history in the uni-
versities, and the formation of historical so-
cieties, there has been a revival of patriotic
interest in the past. The fruits of this feeling
are seen in the numerous statues, tablets, and
other works of art which make a tour in the
Netherlands so fascinating to the student who
would know in detail the long and glorious
story of the Dutch people.

306

APPENDIX

APPENDIX

OUTLINE OF DUTCH HISTORY
PREHISTORIC TIME

Netherlands inhabited by Celtic tribes.
B. c.
loo. The Frisians and Batavians enter.

THE ROMAN PERIOD

54. Julius Caesar,
ir. Drusus.

A. D.

14. Germanicus.

44. Corbulo.

70. Revolt of Claudius Civilis.

277. Weakening of the Roman power.

400. The expansion of the Germanic tribes.

THE FRANKISH PERIOD

496. Clovis baptized.

628. Dagobert fights the Frisians.

First Christian church at Utrecht.
700. Willibrord and the Gospel.
755. Boniface killed at Dokkum.
785. Charles the Great brings the Saxons and Frisians

into Christendom.
800. Coronation of Charles at Rome.
810. Beginning of the Norman inroads.
814. Death of Charles the Great.
309

APPENDIX

839-1260. The Zuyder Zee forms.

843. Compact of Verdun. Beginning of the evolution
of the seventeen Netherland provinces.

PERIOD OF THE COUNTS OF HOLLAND

922. Dirk I.

1015. Dirk III. founds Dordrecht.
1072. Delft founded.
1096. The Crusades begin.
1 170. Great flood. Sea fish at Utrecht.
1 2 19. Beginning of dikes and dams. Capture of Dami-

etta.
1277. Great flood. The DoUart formed.
1296. Floris V. murdered by feudal lords.

1299. Death of John I. and end of the house of Holland.

THE MTODLE AGES : THE FOUR PRINCELY HOUSES

1300. Amsterdam becomes a city.

1329. First windmill in the Netherlands built.
1341. Elizabeth flood. Biesbosch formed.

1349. Quarrels of the Hooks and Cods begin. End of

the house of Hainault.

1350. First use of gunpowder by the Dutch.
1350. Curing of herring discovered.

1423. Use of printing begun.

1428. Death of Jacqueline. End of house of Bavaria.

1477. Death of Charles the Bold.

Mary of Burgundy grants the Great Privilege.
1482. End of the house of Burgundy in the Netherlands.
1490. End of the Hook and Cod quarrels.
1492. Bread and cheese riots.

310

APPENDIX

THE SPANISH PERIOD

1496. Philip the Fair marries Joanna of Aragon, crown

princess of Spain.
1 5 15. Charles V., son of Philip, assumes rule over the

Netherlands.
1517. Charles V. becomes king of Spain.
1517. Charles V., emperor.
1536. Menno Simons and the Mennonites.
1543. All the seventeen provinces united under one

prince.
1555. Charles V. abdicates in favor of Philip II.

1558. Battle of St. Quentin.

1559. Philip II. departs for Spain. Margaret of Parma

made viceroy.

1564. Exit Granvelle. Influence of William of Orange.

1565. The compromise of nobles.

1566. The cry of the Beggars. The image storm.

1567. Departure of William of Orange to Germany.

Arrival of Alva and his army. Flight of 100,000
Netherlanders to other countries.

REVOLT OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS. BEGINNING OF
THE EIGHTY YEARS' WAR

1568. Egmont and Hoorn beheaded.
Battle of Heiligerlee.
William crosses the Maas.

1572. The Water Beggars capture Briel.
Massacres at Zutphen and Naarden.

1573. Siege of Haarlem.
Siege of Alkmaar.

Naval battle on the Zuyder Zee.
Departure of Alva, who is succeeded by Requesens.
3"

APPENDIX

1574. Battle on Mook Heath. Death of Louis and Henry
of Nassau.

Siege of Leyden.
1576. Death of Requesens.

Revolt of Spanish soldiers.

Pacification of Ghent.

Don John of Austria.

1578. Amsterdam adopts the Reformed religion.
Death of Don John.

Alexander of Parma, grand commander.

1579. Union of Utrecht.

THE REPUBLIC OF THE tTNITED NETHERLANDS

1581. Philip II. deposed. Dutch Declaration of Inde-
pendence.

1583. The French fury at Antwerp.

1584. Assassination of William of Orange.

1585. Arrival of the earl of Leicester and the English

auxiliaries.
Fall of Antwerp. The northern and southern

provinces separated.
1588. Destruction of the Invincible Armada.
1590. Maurice -begins the capture of Breda and other

walled cities.

1594. Secession of Groningen from the union.

1595. East India commerce opened by Houtman.

1596. The' Dutch in Nova Zembla.

1597. Battle of Turnhout.
1600. Victory at Newport.
160T. Siege of Ostend.

1602. East India Company formed.
1607. Naval battle at Gibraltar.
1609. Twelve Years' Truce begun.
312

APPENDIX

1614. The Greenland Company formed.

1618. National Synod at Dordrecht.

1619. Barneveldt beheaded.

162 1. Renewal of the war with Spain.

THE BLOOM OF THE REPUBLIC

1621. The age of the great artists, scholars, poets, engi-
neers, explorers, and colonists.
1625. Death of Prince Maurice.

1628. Piet Hein captures the Spanish silver fleet in the

West Indies.

1629. Prince Frederick Henry's campaign.

1648, Peace of Munster, Eighty Years' War ended.

1652. First naval war with England.
3"romp, DeRuyter, Evertsen.
John DeWitt, grand pensionary.

1653. Three days' sea fight.

1654. Peace with England.

1665. Second naval war with England.

1666. Four days' sea fight.

1667. DeRuyter in the Thames.
Peace of Breda.

The Perpetual Edict.

1668. Triple Alliance against France.

1672. French invasion. DeRuyter's victory at Solebay.

Murder of the DeWitt brothers.

1673. DeRu5rter's victory over the allied forces.- Retreat

of the French.
1678. The peace of Nymegen.
1685. Louis XIV. of France repeals Edict of Nantes.

Flight of Huguenots into the Netherlands.
1688. William III. lands in England with a Dutch and

Huguenot array.

313

APPENDIX

1689. William III. made king of Great Britain and Ire-
land.
War with France.

1697. Peace of Ryswyk.

1702. Death of William III.

End of the line of descent from William of Orange.
The succession of the house of Orange-Nassau
passes to John William Friso.

1706-1709. War of the Spanish Succession.

Battles of Ramillies, Oudenarden, and Malplaquet.

1 7 16. Peace of Utrecht.

1740-1748. War of the German Succession.

1747. William IV. becomes hereditary stadholder.

175 1. Princess Anne, governor for William V.

1766. William V., last stadholder.

1776. Governor Johannes de Graeff fires the firsfforeign
salute to the American flag.

1780. John Adams in Holland. Friesland recognizes the

United States of America.

The Dutch republic recognizes the American re-
public.

Fourth war with Great Britain.

1 78 1. Naval battle off the Doggerbank.

1784. Civil war between -the Patriots and the prince's
partisans.

1787. The Prussians support the prince. Flight of Pa-
triots into France.

THE FRENCH REGIME

1789. The French Revolution.
1 793. The French invasion.

1795. The French cross the frozen rivers. Flight of
William V. to England.
3H

APPENDIX

1797. Battle of Camperduin.

1799. Landing of the Russians and British on North
Holland.
Battles at Bergen and Castricum.
1802. Peace at Amiens.
1804. Napoleon, emperor of the French.
1806. Louis, king of Holland.

1809. British land on Walcheren.

18 10. The Netherlands incorporated with France.

1812. Napoleon's march to Russia and retreat.

1813. Battle of Leipsic.

1814. Congress of Vienna.

THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS

18 15. Northern and southern Netherlands made into one

kingdom under William I.
Battle of Waterloo.

1816. Dutch and British bombardment of Algiers.
1821-1825. Extension of Dutch trade and conquest in the

East Indies.
1830, Separation of Belgium and the Netherlands.
The " Ten Days' Campaign."

RENASCENCE OF THE NETHERLANDS

1830. The railway system inaugurated.

1839. Peace with Belgium.

1840. Abdication of William I. in favor of William II.
1844. Friendly mission to Japan.

1848. Reform of the Constitution under Thorbecke.

1849. Death of William II. Enthronement of William III.
1853. Haarlem Lake drained.

1863. Emancipation in the West Indies. The Dutch join

315

APPENDIX

with the British, French, and Americans in the
bombardment of Shimonoseki, Japan.

1867. Limburg becomes a Dutch province.

1873. The Atcheen War begun.

1876. The North Sea Canal from Amsterdam opened.

1879. Marriage of William III. and the Princess Emma

of Waldeck-Pyrmont.

1880. Birth of the Princess Wilhelmina.
1883. World's Exposition at Amsterdam.
1887. Revision of the Constitution.

1890. Death of William III. Expedition to Lombok.

1894. Queen Emma, regent.

1898. Queen Wilhelmina inaugurated.

1900. Marriage of Queen Wilhelmina to Duke Hendrik

of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
The Peace Congress at The Hague.

1901. Triumph of the Anti-Revolutionary party at the

polls.
Dr. Abraham Kuyper, premier.

316

INDEX

INDEX

Ada, Countess, 79.

Adolph of Nassau, 172, 173.

Adrian, Pope, 127.

Africa, 252, 292, 305.

Alcuin, 114.

Alkmaar, 77, 124.

Alva, 162, 167-169, 174-177, 181,

184-187, 189, 191, 192, 196.
Amalia Van Solms, 238, 240, 305.
America, Dutch in, 255, 293.
American fiag saluted, 263.
Amsterdam, 139, 212, 272, 279,

291, 298-304.
Anabaptists, 129, 137.
Anglo-Saxons, 29.
Anjou, Duke of, 215-217.
Anna Paulowna, 290.
Antwerp, 158, 169, 176, 241, 269,

281, 289, 290.
Armada, the Invincible, 220, 221.
Armor, 133.
Atjeh, 227.
Avila, Don Sancho de, 198.

Banners of William of Orange, T 7 1 .
Barneveldt, John of, 219, 222-224,

231-234, 293.
Batavian Republic, 275-278.
Batavians, 18.
Bavarian house, 89-106.
Beggars, the party so called, 1 54,

155, 166, 168-170, 173. See also

Water Beggars.
Belgic Netherlands, 1 66, 288.
Betuwe, 16.
Beukels, William, 94.
Bible, 134-137. 234-
Biervliet, 95.
Biesbosch, 105.

Binnen Hof, 79.

Bishops, 145.

Black John, 183.

Blok, Prof. P. J., 298.

Boers, 305.

Boisot, Admiral, 197-203.

Boniface, 37.

Boodle, origin of the word, 91.

Bookmaking in the middle ages,

115.
Bossu, Count, 182, 183, 189, 192,

195, 196.
Bread and Cheese War, 123, 124.
Brederode, 151, 153.
Brethren of the Common Life, 115.
Briel, 180-182, 184.
Brinio, 24, 25.

Brussels, 173, 174, 181, 290.
Burgundy, house of, 107-121.
Buys, Paul, 177.

Caesar, 18, 19.

Cambrai, 215.

Camperduin, 277.

Cats, Jacob, 248.

Ceremonies, 91, 297, 305.

Charlemagne, 38-42.

Charles V., Emperor, 95, 126-128,

140-143.
Charles the Bold, iii, 116.
Charlotte of Bourbon, 216, 218.
Chinese, 227.
Chivalry, 61, 62.

Church and State, 139, 233, 234.
Claudius Civilis, 22-24.
Cods, the party so called, 85-89,

109, 120.
Coevorden, 26.
"Compromise," 153.

19

INDEX

Constitutions of the Netherlands,

214, 286.
Comellisen, Gijsbert, 202, 203.
Coster, Laurens Janszoon, 113.
Council o£ Blood, 168.
Council of Troubles, 168.
Count, the word and the office, 66.
Crown, the Dutch, 291.
Crusaders, 54-61, 69, 70.

Daendels, Herman, 272, 279.

Dam, in place names, 67.

Dam, the, in Amsterdam, 272, 274,

290, 301.
Damietje, the, 69.
Damietta, 69, 70.
Danes, 49.
Delf shaven, 123.
Delft, 294, 305.
Delftware, 102.
De Ruyter, Admiral, 249, 250,

254, 255.
Dikes, 112, 292.
Dirk I., Count, 64.
Dirkson, Admiral, 195.
Doggerbank, 265.
Dokkum, 38, 186.
Don Frederic, 186, 189, 191, 192.
Dordrecht, 120, 127, 182, 186, 233.
Drainage of lakes, 292.
Drenthe, 10, 11, 296.
Drinking customs, 76, 154.
Drusus, 19.
Duncan, Admiral, 277.
Dunes, 3.

East Indies, 293, 302.

Egmond Abbey, 65.

Egmont, Count, 143, 146, 152,

160-162, 167, 173, 174.
Elizabeth of England, 166, 176,

179.
Emma, Queen, 294, 295, 299, 300.
England, relations with, 82, 99,

loi, 125, 176.
Erasmus, 136-138.

Falconry, 73-76.
Feudalism, 44-48, 61, 66.

Flag of the Franks, 30, 32 ; of the
Netherlands, 170 ; of Belgium,
289.

Flemings, exodus of the, 165, 166.

Floods, 105, 178.

Floris v., 72, 75-77.

Flushing, 149, 184, 281.

Franks, 28-36.

Frederick Henry, 239, 240, 305.

French invasion, 269-275.

French rule in Holland, 275-285.

Friesland, 81, 124, 186, 295.

Frisians, 27-39, 5^' 8'' 9^> 296-

Gerard, Balthazar, 217, 218.

Germanic tribes, 26-27, 40.

Ghent, 119, 148, 168.

" Giants' graves," 10, 296.

Godfrey, 52.

Goes, I02, 185, 188, 189.

Golden Fleece, Knights of the,

108, 156.
Gouda, 100, 102, 186.
Granvelle, Cardinal, 149-152, 162,

168, 220.
Great Privilege, the, 118.
Grotius, 233-235, 305.
Gunpowder, 132.

Haarlem, 70, 113, 191, 280, 292.

Hague, The, 79, 267, 304.

Hainault, house of, 8i>-84, 88.

Harik, John, 195, 196.

Hedge preaching, 157, 158, 160.

HeUigerlee, the battle of, 172, 173.

Helder, 278.

Hendrik, Duke of Mecklenburg-

Schwerin, 306.
Herring, 94-96.
Hessels, 168.
History writing, 65, 293.
Hoen, Captain, 201.
Holland, origin of the name, 4;

kingdom of, 278-282.
Hooks, the party so called, 85, 86,

88, 109, 120, 123.
Hoom, 96.

Hoom, Count, 160, 161, 173, 174.
House of a Thousand Fears, 183.

320

INDEX

"Image storm, the," 158, 159.
Inquisition, 153.
Ireland, 31.

Jacqueline of Bavaria, go-105.

Japanese, 227.

Jemmingen, 174.

Jews, 141.

John of Austria, Don, 208, 210-

212.

John of Nassau, 172, 213.
Juliana of Stolberg, 148.

Keezen, the party so called, 268.
Kenau Van Hasselaer, 191.
Kijkduin, 277.
Kingship, 286, 291.
Kuyper, £)r. Abraham, 305.

Leicester, Earl of, 220.

Leyden, 2i, 176, 186.

Liberty trees, 274.

Limburg, 286, 290.

Lombok, 296.

Louis Napoleon, 279, 280.

Louis of Nassau, 172, 174, 175,

185, 187, 198, 199.
Lou vain, 169.
Luther, 129.

Maastricht, 175.

Margaret of Holland, 81,83,86-88.

Margaret of Parma, 148-151, 153,

154, 156, 158, 160, 167, 168.
Marnix de Sainte-Aldegonde,

Philip Van, 186, 196, 220.
Mary. See William and Mary.
Mary of Burgundy, 118-121.
Maurice, Prince, 218, 222-232,

235, 256.
Maximilian of Austria, 120-125,

127.
Middelburg, 71.

Mondragon, Cristobal, 188, 189.
Monks, 48, 65.
Mons, 186.
Mook, 198, 199.
Moreau, General, 275.
Motley, J. L., 293.

Naarden, 189, 190.

Names, given and family, 63, 130,

Napoleon Bonaparte, 276-278,

280-284.
Nobles' procession, 153.
Norsemen, 48-51.
Nymegen, 21, 41, 267.

Orange, color, 268, 285.
Orange, house of, 258.
" Oranje boven," 170.

Pacheco, 184.

Paleis, 279.

Paris, 283.

Parma, Duke of, 167, 215, 220,

221.
Patrick, Saint, (Succat), 31, 38.
Patriots, the party so called, 266-

270.
Paul Jones, 264.
Peace Congress, 304, 305.
Philip the Fair, 125-128.
Philip II. of Spain, 128, 142-145,

148, 149, 162, 163.
Pichegru, General, 275.
Pilgrim Fathers, 20.
Printing, 113, 114, 133-135, 141,

151-
Prussia, 267.
Pope, power of the, in the middle

ages, 131.
Porcelain, 102.

Radbod, the Frisian king, 35.
Raven, the, in Norse navigation,

50, 51.
Religion, 13, 231-234.
Renneburg, the traitor, 214.
Requesens, Don Luis de, 197, 200,

207, 208.
Romans, 9, 17-27.
Rotterdam, 183.
Royal Institute, the Dutch, 280.
Russian invasion, 277.

Saracens, 57, 58, 60.
Scarlet letter, 55.

321

INDEX

Scheldt River, 241, 269, 290.
Scheveningen, 271, 285.
Scotland, 68.

Seventeen provinces of the Neth-
erlands, the, 140, 171, 288.
Sidney, Sir Philip, 220.
Slaves, 51, 58.
Sophia, Queen, 292, 294.
Spitzbergen, 237.
Stadholders, 140, 273.
States-General, 71, 118.
SuccaL See Patrick.
Swarte Jan, 183.

Taxation, 72, 118.

Ten Days' Campaign, 289.

Terpen, 7-10.

Texel, 180, 277.

Thorbecke, Prime Minister, 291.

Treslong, 180, 184.

Tromp, Admiral Martin, 247, 249,

250, 254, 255.
Tulips, 239.
Turks, S4, 55-

Union of Utrecht, 214.

Utrecht, 32, 68, 180, 182, 214,

271.
Utrecht University, 27, 281.

Valdez, 200.
Valenciennes, 161, 162.
Van Borselen, Francis, 103.
Van der Kemp, Adrian, 265.
Van der Mark, William, 178-180,

186, 189.
Van der Werf, Burgomaster, 202,

203.
Van Hasselaer, Kenau, 191.
Van Spijk, 289, 290.
Veer, 68, 69.

Velleda, the fortune-teller, 22, 23.
Veluwe, 16.

Verdun, 41.
Vianen, 21.
Vikings, 48-51.
Vilvoorde, 136.
Vliet, 20.

Walcheren, 185, 188, 281.
Water Beggars, 1 54, 170, 177, 179-

182, 189, 197-203, 207.
Waterloo, 284.

White, Hon. Andrew D., 305.
Widow, renunciation of all claim

to a husband's estate by a, 90,

91-
Wilfried, 33, 34.
Wilhelmina, Queen, 294-306.
" Wilhehnus Lied," 186.
Willemstad, 270.
William I., King, 285, 286, 288-

290.
William II., King, 284, 290, 291.
William III., King, 291-294, 302.
William II., Stadholder, 241, 242,

245.
William III., Stadholder, 252-257.
William IV., Stadholder, 258-260.
William V., Stadholder, 260, 262-

264, 271.
William and Mary, 255-257.
William of Orange, 140, 142, 144,

146-152, 160, 161, 168, 171, 175,

186, 187, 194, 210-213, Z16-219,

229.
Williamson, Hubert, 190.
Willibrord, 34, 65.
Windmills, 94.

Wittekind, the Saxon warrior, 38.
Woden, 13.

Zeeland, 281, 296.

Zierikzee, 80.

Zoutman, Admiral, 265.

Zuyder Zee, 22, 195, 270, 276, 292.

322

Electroiyped and printed hy H. O. Houghton &* Co,
Cambridge, Mass., U.S. A,